


where the wind blows

by sehunagenda



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Kinda post-apocaliptic setting, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Smut, Sehun is too naive, The aftermath a little bit more, War, baekhyun is whipped, mentioned torture, the violence is NOT graphic, war prisoner, war related shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23810149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sehunagenda/pseuds/sehunagenda
Summary: One of them is only following what his friends had done before him, joining the Forces against the Outsiders. The other is trying to stop this once and for all, fed up with the lies of the Empire.When Sehun is tasked with watching over Baekhyun, an important war prisoner, he didn't expect things to go this way.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Oh Sehun
Comments: 11
Kudos: 67
Collections: CASE–94: Round One





	where the wind blows

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was written for the first round of the CASE–94 Fest for Oh Sehun.  
> Prompt #C1-035
> 
> Author's note: First of all, to the prompter, I don't know if this is what you expected (I took my liberties with the prompt, but I think I followed it pretty well!), but I hope you like it!!!!!  
> To the mods, thank you for this Sehun-centred fest, it gave me the opportunity so write my first sebaek and I love it! Sehun deserves all the love~
> 
> And finally, please be aware, the fic is from Sehun's point of view, which means you will see the world as he sees it, and here's a little spoiler, he is a little bit naïve and innocent for the world and the war, so bear with him. There's also a couple mentions of blood, torture, and killings because of the war, so be careful if you are sensitive with those subjects!

**Part I. Inside**

Sehun was nervous, it was the first time that their squad leader had given him a direct order, and he didn’t want to fuck it up. He was a relatively new member of the Forces, joined just because his friends were part of it. Well, no, he joined because he believed in the war… But not really. What was the war even about? He believed that the Outsiders were dangerous, though, and he wanted to protect the only civilization left. Sehun wanted to be useful to his community, and he knew that war against the Outsiders was worse than ever, Jongin and Chanyeol always talked about that, constantly complaining about the Outsiders.

So, he joined the Forces. His friends put on a good word for him, and he was accepted in one of the squads of the Protection unit, which meant that he didn’t actively fight – which was a relief –, he just was trained to protect the outer wall from any possible attacks. There had been none in the time he had been active, so Sehun was still very nervous about the whole ordeal.

Now, he had received specific orders. Apparently, one of the Ranger squads had managed to capture an important member of the Outsiders and were bringing him in. He was probably going to be interrogated and then brought to his cell. That is where Sehun came in. Apparently, the man was known for being a whole escapist, impossible to catch, giving them too much trouble, and it was necessary to lock him up and keep him watched at all costs.

The man was going to be locked far from the other prisoners because they didn’t want to risk anything. As a member of the Protection squad, they had been assigned to keep an eye on him and their leader had chosen a couple of them, Sehun included, for this task. “So you can feel useful” he had explained, seeing Sehun’s confusion.

The only thing left was to wait until they brought the prisoner, which had Sehun fidgeting on his feet. The place wasn’t too bad, actually. Sehun doubted that the Outsiders had jails like this. There was a glass wall, so the prisoner wouldn’t actually have any intimacy, but the room was nice. Not too small, all white, with a bed more comfortable than the one Sehun slept on. A shower, a latrine, and even a desk with a chair and some books. Sehun didn’t have those. This prisoner was going to live better than him.

After what was like hours of waiting, Sehun heard some noise, probably the prisoner being brought to his cell. He tensed his back, getting in a perfect stance – one of the things he was the best in, his military stance. Finally, five people appeared. Two of them were bringing the prisoner, dragging him, while the other two were probably simple guards, in case something went wrong.

How could something go wrong when the prisoner wasn’t even conscious? Sehun expected some big scary man, but this… this was only a boy. He couldn’t see his face well, but he couldn’t be much older than Sehun. The prisoner’s clothes were almost completely torn and his face, his arms and legs, were all covered in blood.

He saluted the men bringing the prisoner, and they returned the salutation. Sehun opened the door to the cell, allowing them in, and they dropped the prisoner in the floor, not even in the bed. After that, they left the room. One of them looked at Sehun before they left for good. “Keep a close watch on him. He is a handful”.

And they left. Sehun’s mouth was dry, because yes, maybe the prisoner was a handful but… He needed medical attention. They couldn’t leave him like that, right? He was, after all, an important prisoner judging by the nice cell he had. What if he died? What if he died on his watch? He couldn’t do anything, his orders were just to keep a watch on him, preventing him from running away. He hoped the prisoner wouldn’t die.

Nothing happened for a while, the prisoner still unconscious. All the blood he had on him was dry, no apparent bleeding was happening at the moment, and he was breathing, so he was alive. Alive and not bleeding, that was good.

Sehun heard steps approaching again, so he got in position – he was supposed to be always in position but being worried about the prisoner, he needed to be watching him, just in case he stopped breathing or something like that.

To his surprise, it was Jongin who appeared in the long white corridor that lead to the prisoner’s room. He grinned when he saw Sehun and waved at him as he came closer.

“Sehunnie!” he said, happy to see his friend.

“Hi” Sehun shyly answered, smiling. He was still standing still, as Jongin was technically his superior, but then his friend pouted.

“Give me a hug, it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other” Jongin whined.

Sehun laughed and then complied, hugging him, because Jongin was right. Jongin was on the Patrol squad, with Chanyeol, a unit not as local as the Protection squad, not as adventurous as the Ranger squad. They usually had short missions, but the last one had been a complicated one, lasting several weeks. Sehun had missed him.

“Are you okay, when did you arrive?” Sehun asked, looking at Jongin with concern.

“I’m alright, you know we don’t risk ourselves too much, Scouting and Ranger do that, not us” Jongin said, messing a little with Sehun’s hair. “We arrived a few hours ago, actually. Had to fill in a few reports, I took a good shower and went looking for you. I was surprised when they told me where you were!”

He sounded proud, which filled Sehun’s stomach with happiness. “Yeah, they assigned me this post. It’s not much, we just have to keep watch of the prisoner” he said, looking at said man, still unconscious in the cell.

“He looks bad” Jongin whistled “They will probably send a doctor when he wakes up. He is important, you know, we don’t want him to die on us”

“Who is he?” Sehun asked, in a whisper. He was curious as to why was he so important.

“He is an important member of one of the Outsiders clans” Jongin answered, also in a low voice. “One of the most important clans, they say. It’s not the first time our Rangers and Scouters catch him, but they have never been able to bring him here, he always escapes first. His name is Baekhyun.”

“Do you think he will give us any information?” Sehun asked quietly.

“For his own good? I hope he will” Jongin said, raising his eyebrows. “Anyway, Sehunnie, I gotta leave now, still have reports left to fill. Let’s catch up later, alright?”

“Yeah, sure” Sehun said, with a sad smile because his friend was leaving already. “Rest well!”

“Will do” Jongin laughed, saying goodbye again before leaving. Sehun pouted, even if his friend couldn’t see him.

After that, he got into position again, the prisoner a little ignored as Sehun became lost in thought. Maybe the prisoner sensed it, even unconscious, that Sehun was no longer paying attention to him, so it was in that moment that he chose to wake up, coughing in a rather ugly way.

Sehun turned sharply, scared by the sudden noise, in time to see the prisoner, Baekhyun, half sitting up still coughing. Sehun almost asked him if he was okay, but he was not supposed to talk to him, not now and not ever, so he just glanced to the camera, hoping the doctor would come soon.

“I fucked up” were the prisoner first words in his cell. Sehun turned his head a little so he could fully observe him – it was his task, after all. He was trying to completely get up, but his arms gave in when he tried to use them to support his body. “Fuck” he said again, at the same time that that door at the end of corridor opened.

Four people entered then, two of them were wearing the uniforms of the Elite squad, making Sehun really nervous. The others were doctors, carrying all the tools needed, so Baekhyun wouldn’t be getting out of his cell for the time being at least.

No one talked, except for the hissing of the prisoner. His wounds were not too deep, so probably all the blood on him wasn’t his, but judging by the treatment he was receiving, he had at least broken some bones. Sehun watched the doctors clean and stich him up, and Baekhyun was given a set of new clothes, as white as the cell.

“He should rest for a couple of days” one of the doctors said, a man with a stern expression, who looked worried about the state of prisoner.

“We will decide that, doctor Zhang” one of the elites said, voice serious but with a hint of mockery. The doctor just rolled his eyes.

“If you want him to live enough, you’ll let him rest” the doctor said, putting his medical tools inside this case. “He is of no use to us dead, right? Don’t make my job more difficult”

“You just do your job, we will do ours, doc” the other elite said. The doctor sighed, his companion completely quiet.

“Of course you will. Anyway, we are done here.” He said and turned to the prisoner, talking to him for the first time since they were there “I’d advise you to not push yourself too much”

The prisoner looked at him and laughed. “I wouldn’t want to give you any problem, doc. Please take care of me” he added, batting his eyelashes. Sehun’s eyebrows went up, almost disappearing behind his hair.

“Shut up” the first Elite said, irritated. He looked like he wanted to rip Baekhyun to pieces, but the prisoner just laughed harder.

“What are you gonna do, kill me?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows “You need me, right? You’ve been trying to catch me since forever… I mean you could kill me, but I wouldn’t risk angering my superiors so much if I were you.”

“You fucking-“

“Enough” the other Elite said, frowning “Let’s leave, for now.”

His partner just nodded, but he turned to Sehun before completely leaving. “Just ignore him, he is crazy. Don’t let him get to you, soldier.”

“Yes, sir” Sehun answered, giving them the military salutation. They did it back, and the four of them left, leaving them alone, again.

For a second, everything was silent. Sehun relaxed a little, now that the elites were gone, even if he was still nervous about the prisoner, feeling Baekhyun’s eyes on his back.

“So, are your assigned to me?” Baekhyun asked. He didn’t sound scared, nor tired. He sounded like making conversation with a guy in a bar, not the guard of his cell.

Sehun almost answered that yes, he was, until he remembered the no talking rule. He couldn’t fuck up, he had to do this right, so he didn’t say anything, just kept his mouth shut. Baekhyun sighed at that, probably a little disappointed.

“Tell me what’s your name at least, so I know what to call you” he asked, but Sehun just kept silent. “Alright, I’ll just call you Guard Handsome, what do you think?”

Again, Sehun didn’t say anything, but he felt his ears turn a little red, and probably Baekhyun had noticed, because he started laughing. “Oh, yeah, Guard Handsome it is, nice to meet you! My name is Baekhyun, but I’m sure you already knew”

Yeah, Sehun knew, he wanted to tell him that, but he didn’t, again. Baekhyun just sighed and finally got up, even if he clearly was still weak.

“Well, this place is nice” Baekhyun commented, to which Sehun almost snorted. Yeah, it was a nice place. “Look at that, they got me books! I’m sure they will be boring, you guys have banned all the interesting books” he complained, but started looking through the books anyway.

He just… kept talking. While he looked and rummaged through the books, Baekhyun talked about the titles, about the ones he knew, or the ones that seemed interesting.

“Oh, this one is nice! ‘History of the Modern Civilization’, sounds interesting. This is about you guys, right? Your civilization, as you call it…” He suddenly started laughing, and Sehun pouted a little, wanting to know what was so funny “Are they trying to brainwash me? That would be funny” Baekhyun mussed, still laughing.

Sehun was confused, because even if they were in opposites sides of the war, history was the same to everybody, right? Baekhyun was just… crazy. He was crazy.

“I’ll read this, yeah” Baekhyun said, taking the book. He looked at the desk, then at bed and finally sat on the floor. “I prefer to read like this… do you read a lot, Handsome?”

A few seconds passed until Sehun realized that Baekhyun was asking him, looking at him. He almost, almost, answered that no, he didn’t read much, didn’t have the time, but no, he didn’t fail. That was probably what Baekhyun was doing, talking to him, trying to break him, but Sehun wouldn’t fail. No, he was going to make his squad leader proud, and just keep watch of the prisoner, no talking.

“I do” Baekhyun added, apparently not caring about the lack of response of Sehun “I like to read, to cultivate my mind.”

He just kept talking, like he wasn’t a prisoner, just a friend. He talked about everything and nothing at the same time, which kind of amazed Sehun. It was a non-stop talk, and it felt like he was just talking with a friend who liked silence – that role would be Sehun’s.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Baekhyun had asked after one hour of describing the colour of the leaves when they fell to the ground in autumn. Of course, Sehun didn’t answer, even when he wanted to scream that it was blue, his favourite colour was blue. “Mine is yellow. I think is a nice colour, I really like when the leaves turn that yellowish tone, or when the sun shines over the sea.”

That caught Sehun’s attention, as he hadn’t seen the sea before. Such a cliché right? But they couldn’t leave, not when the dangers, the Outsiders were out there. Outsiders like Baekhyun, who had seen the sea.

Baekhyun noticed that Sehun had reacted to the mention of the sea, because he came closer to the glass wall, looking like an excited puppy with sparkly eyes. “You have never seen the sea, right? You should go someday, it’s really beautiful and peaceful” he said, his voice full with hope and promises that couldn’t apply to Sehun.

Sehun didn’t answer, even if he wanted; wanted to say that he couldn’t go as long as the war kept on. That it was Baekhyun’s side fault, that they were bad people, attacking them, putting them all in danger, it was their fault that Sehun couldn’t see the sea. But he kept silent once again.

Baekhyun just sighed and took another book. Had he even finished the first one? It didn’t look like it, but he probably had grown bored of it. And he started talking again, something about a story of young love. “It reminds me of this” he was saying, reading the new book “But not quite. It’s interesting how we reuse the same love clichés again and again and again. It’s always the same story, have you noticed? Details change, of course, they make us believe we are reading a brand new story… But no, it’s always the same. It always ends up the same way.”

He sounded disappointed at that, and Sehun couldn’t grasp the reason why. Didn’t he like when love stories had a good ending? Or was it something else? Before he could give in to the temptation and ask him what he meant, his replacement – another member of his squad named Kyungsoo – came.

They made the proper salutation to each other, Baekhyun pouting when he saw Sehun leave. He was probably going to annoy the other to death as well… Sehun had to admit that hours had passed fast with Baekhyun talking. It was a strange feeling, because as much as Baekhyun should annoy him, he didn’t; it had been interesting hearing him talk about books and about everything, and Sehun almost felt bad for not answering.

No, he was a prisoner, and this was Sehun’s job, his first important task. He couldn’t fuck up.

He was so immersed thinking about Baekhyun, that he had almost forgotten that Jongin was back. He perked up immediately, going to where he knew Jongin’s room was. The light was green, which meant Jongin was inside so Sehun just entered – there was little to no privacy there.

“Sehun!” Jongin smiled brightly. He was sitting on his bed, looking at something in his comm. “Did you finish your shift already?”

“Yeah” Sehun nodded “At last…”

Jongin just laughed at that, patting the bed next to him for Sehun to sit there. “Did he wake up?” he asked, probably curious about the prisoner.

“Uh, unfortunately yes” Sehun scoffed “He talks, like, a lot. Does he understand the situation he is in?”

Jongin laughed again, amused. “Wow, so it’s true. I’d heard that there’s no way to shut him up, but I thought that finally getting captured would mine him down… I see that wasn’t the case.”

“I hope he relaxes once the fact that he isn’t going to escape settles in” Sehun mumbled, nuzzling against Jongin.

They just stayed there for a few seconds, enjoying the company, the warmth of the other. Sehun had missed that and he was sure that Jongin had missed it as well. He felt his eyes begin to close, Jongin’s hand petting his hair.

“You should go back to your cabin” Jongin whispered “You are going to fall asleep here.”

“Let me sleep with you” Sehun mumbled, not wanting to go all the way back.

“You’ll wake me up when you have to leave to your post” Jongin whined “And I want to rest.”

“I promise I’ll be careful, you won’t even notice I’m leaving” Sehun pouted “Please?”

Jongin sighed, because there was no way he was going to say no to Sehun. He could probably sense that something was wrong, and he would be right, because Sehun felt uneasy. Maybe it had been Baekhyun, or maybe he was just anxious about this being his first mission – even if it was boring, it was still a mission.

“Alright, you can stay” Jongin said in the end.

“You are the best” Sehun said, sounding happy but almost asleep anyway.

Jongin didn’t answer but helped rearrange themselves so they were both lying on the bed, cuddling as they always did, and in a matter of seconds, both of them were sleeping.

Sehun woke up early, earlier that he needed, and it was hard to step away from the warmth that radiated of Jongin’s body, but he had to. As he had promised, Sehun left without waking Jongin up – the guy slept like a bear anyway, it was impossible to wake him up when he didn’t have anything to do.

After a shower in his cabin and a change of clothes, Sehun mentally prepared himself for another day of guarding Baekhyun, and went down. Baekhyun’s cell was in one of the lowest levels of their base, and a special permission was required to go down there. It was where the most important prisoners were, completely isolated from the others and with special guards.

When he arrived, Baekhyun seemed still asleep in the bed, and Kyungsoo made the salutation when he saw Sehun. “Good luck today” the other said, glancing at Baekhyun. “Was he as talkative with you?” he grunted.

Sehun didn’t know why he felt a pang of disappointed knowing that Baekhyun bothered Kyungsoo as well, of course he would have. “Yeah, he is quite the talker”.

“Well, at least he fell asleep soon” Kyungsoo snorted. “Try not to get crazy” were his last words before he left. For someone who had been awake all night he looked fresher than ever, but that was just how Kyungsoo was.

For a couple of hours, there was peace, no sounds except the prisoner slightly snoring, but nothing more. When Baekhyun woke up, the first thing he said was. “Ooooh, mister Handsome is here! Nice.”

Sehun tried really really hard to not roll his eyes, but damn, he couldn’t help it. Baekhyun didn’t see it, fortunately, so Sehun could still pretend to be ignoring him.

“How did you sleep, Handsome?” Baekhyun asked, obviously not expecting an answer. “I slept pretty well, didn’t have a lot of nightmares, which is a first! Maybe I could take this like a vacation, what do you think? No responsibilities… No obligations to follow… I could get used to this, right?”

He was rummaging through the cell, looking for some spare clothes to change himself, but there weren’t any.

“Well, I guess this will do” Baekhyun sighed. “What could I read today… Do you have any recommendations, Handsome? I think there are some good books here, the one I started yesterday was pretty boring.”

Sehun thought he would eventually tire himself, stop talking… It didn’t happen. It was kinda sad to admit that the conversation – monologue that Baekhyun kept with Sehun was of the most interesting ones that Sehun had ever had.

It went on for hours, Baekhyun just talking like Sehun was an old friend, like Sehun was going to answer him. And Sehun wanted to answer him, to ask him about the books he was reading, about the books he had read before. But he couldn’t.

As tiresome at it was, guarding Baekhyun, it was interesting. He didn’t seem worried about his situation at all, and now that he was healing from his wounds, he seemed to exude energy, too much energy perhaps.

Three days passed before Baekhyun had a visit that wasn’t Sehun or Kyungsoo. A man, guarded by a couple of the Protection squad members, wearing the Intelligence squad badge. He just stood at Sehun’s side, looking at Baekhyun, who grinned and waved at him.

“Well, I’ve got a visitor” he said, still a grin on his face. “What do you think they want from me, Handsome? I’m sure they want to ask me a few things.”

“Is he giving you any problems?” the Intelligence asked Sehun, with a raised eyebrow.

Sehun immediately shook his head. “No, sir, he is just very loud, but easy to ignore” he lied, because he wasn’t ignoring Baekhyun at all.

“Oh, wow, it’s the first time I hear your voice, I like it” Baekhyun said “Please tell him to talk more, it would be much more entertaining than these boring books you have” he added, pouting.

The Intelligence man looked at him before giving him a half smile. “Mister Byun, don’t worry, he may not be allowed to talk to you, but you can chat with me instead, right?”

Baekhyun answered a “But I don’t want that, I prefer my Handsome here” but the Protection guards were already opening the cell. One of them had his gun out, and was pointing at Baekhyun while the other put the electric cuffs on him.

“Behave” the one with the gun said, without lowering it “We have orders to shoot at the most minimal problem, consider yourself warned.”

“Ah, there goes my escape plan” Baekhyun pouted “It’s a pity I have such strong men guarding me, I have absolutely no means to escape, right?”

It was in the way he said it – Sehun could feel it and the others as well – clear that Baekhyun was sure he was going to escape. There was no way, the security they had was too strong and he was going to be under surveillance the whole time… But he sounded so sure of himself, it was easy to believe it.

“We’ll be back in a while” the Intelligence said “Enjoy the silence while you can.”

After that, they walked to the door of the corridor, and Sehun was once again left alone. He found himself missing Baekhyun chat, which was completely absurd. Maybe it was the fact that until the day before he had been weeks without talking to his friends, without talking to Jongin or Chanyeol.

Sehun had a big problem, he was at the same time intimidating and incredibly shy, meaning that he had trouble making friends. He had joined the Forces because his friends had; even if he believed in the cause, believed in the peace, it was mainly because of his friends. After they had enlisted, Sehun had been left alone, only with his family, and he couldn’t stand it.

Turns out, he didn’t get to be in the same squad as them, of course he wouldn’t, he was just not that lucky. Still, they saw each other when they weren’t on a mission, they ate together, he stayed a lot with Jongin – the boy being as shy as him with strangers, they had bonded over that when they were kids after all.

In his squad… well, he got Kyungsoo. The man was even more intimidating than Sehun, which meant that the rest of the members didn’t just ignore Sehun, they ignored Kyungsoo as well. So, they were not friends, but it was nice to have someone to work with, and they had built a comfortable comradery.

Still, they were not friends; they didn’t pass time together outside of their squad activities, and Kyungsoo wasn’t much of a talker – neither was Sehun. That, in the end, meant that Sehun had no one to really talk to, no one who talked to him freely. Jongin and Chanyeol, they were both talkers, so Sehun was used to be with his friends chatting, even if mostly listening, and their absence was hard for him.

And Baekhyun was just like that, he was a talker. He didn’t mind that Sehun didn’t answer, that Sehun didn’t even pay attention to him – a lie, because Sehun did pay attention, but he couldn’t let Baekhyun know that. Baekhyun didn’t mind, he just enjoyed talking, having someone he could talk to.

So, it was kinda nice when it shouldn’t be. Sehun should be ignoring Baekhyun, he should be getting annoyed at his talking, maybe even snap to tell him to shut up. Instead of that, he found himself wanting to answer, to know more about him, and let him know about himself. What a weird feeling.

Steps on the corridor brought him back to reality, the guards finally coming back after a while – not too long, in fact, just a couple of hours. This time, Baekhyun wasn’t walking, he was being dragged, just like the first time. He wasn’t unconscious, no, but his shirt had been ripped off, and he had some ugly cuts on his torso, arms, face…

“Disappointing” the Intelligence said as the others dragged Baekhyun inside his cell, blood still dripping off the fresh cuts. Sehun wanted to throw up. “I hope tomorrow you give us something useful, Byun.”

“Of course” Baekhyun coughed “I can give you my mother’s secret sauce recipe. People would kill for it, you know.”

One of the guards just kicked Baekhyun, making him groan with pain, when another voice interrupted them. “What do you think you are doing?”

It was the doctor, the same that came the first day, and he was looking at Baekhyun, with a frown in his face, showing his anger.

“Our job” the guard answered, even if he was suddenly nervous and a little fidgeting.

“No, your specific job is to bring him here so I can mend whatever you’ve already done to the poor boy, so I would not hurt him anymore if I were you, or you would make me very angry” the doctor said, his lips forming a thin line after that.

“Eunhyuk and Donghae told me you were being a little overprotective with the prisoner” the Intelligence man said, with his arms crossed, as the guards hurried to exit the cell, Baekhyun still groaning and coughing a little.

The doctor just scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I want to do my job, Leeteuk, so let me. You’ve already taken him, tortured him and done whatever you wanted. There’s no point in roughing him up without reason.”

The man, Leeteuk, raised his hands. “Alright, no need to be like this, doctor Zhang. We will leave, for now. Do whatever you can with him.”

Sehun had been tense throughout the whole encounter, knowing it wasn’t his place to talk, to speak against anything, but he shot a worried glance to Baekhyun, which didn’t go unnoticed by the doctor.

“Don’t worry, we got him” he said, giving Sehun a pat on the arm before he and the other, the same that had accompanied him the first time, entered the cell.

“Oh, was mister Handsome worried about me?” Baekhyun coughed, sounding so smug. “I feel flattered.”

Sehun felt his ears turn a little red but didn’t say anything, even when the doctor’s partner laughed at him. “That’s cute” he mumbled, earning a “Right?” from Baekhyun.

“Donghyuck, stop messing with the guard” the doctor chastised him, even if there was evident fondness in his voice. “We have work to do.”

“Aye, let’s go” the other sighed, taking their tool’s case inside.

Baekhyun was weirdly quiet while the two men did their work, cleaning, disinfecting and stitching up some of the biggest cuts before bandaging practically all his upper body. The prisoner only opened his mouth to answer when doctor Zhang asked him a question, and when he couldn’t stop himself from hissing or groaning because of the pain.

When they were done with him, doctor Zhang approached Sehun outside the cell while Donghyuck cleaned the blood of the floor. “Give me your comm” the doctor said, and Sehun was afraid for a moment that he was going to complain about him or something, but Sehun complied anyway. The doctor opened his contacts file and pressed his finger on it, successfully adding himself to the contact list. “If you think he needs something, call me” he added, giving the comm back to Sehun.

There he was, Zhang Yixing, on the top of Sehun’s contacts now. He looked like an important man, if he was able to talk back to Intelligence like that, and he seemed to like Sehun, or at least trusted him enough, which felt… good.

“I will do it, don’t worry about it, doctor Zhang” Sehun assured him, making the doctor smile, a cute dimple showing up.

“Thank you. He is our prisoner, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to treat him as a human being first” he added. “Goodbye Baekhyun.”

“Until tomorrow, doc” Baekhyun laughed. “Don’t worry about me, I have Handsome here to keep me company.”

The doctor gave them an amused look at the same time that Donghyuck snorted, and then they finally left. Baekhyun was sitting on the floor, holding himself against the bed, shivering a little. The upper half of his clothes had been probably torn out so he was wearing only the pants, and it didn’t look like anyone was going to come and give a new one, so Sehun quickly sent Kyungsoo a message. He hoped his squad partner didn’t ignore his petition.

“You know” Baekhyun suddenly said “I really miss my mother’s cooking. She knew how to cook absolutely everything, tried to teach me a little. I’m not half bad, to be honest, learnt from the best.”

Was he… Was he going to just talk, like he hadn’t been being tortured less than an hour ago? Baekhyun was so weird, but Sehun assumed this would be his coping mechanism. His way of making himself believe that things weren’t that bad, and oh boy he managed to even convince Sehun with his act.

And he did just that, talk. Chat with Sehun, complain and whine because he was bored. He wanted to get up and get a book, but it was too painful so he just dragged himself over the bed, while Sehun worried about his wounds reopening. He was ready to call doctor Zhang the moment he saw any trace of blood. It didn’t come to that, as Baekhyun clearly knew how to move, what things he shouldn’t do so to not hurt himself even more.

When Kyungsoo arrived that night, he was carrying a new set of clothes with himself. “They didn’t give him new ones?” he asked, and Sehun felt a rush of relief because the look Kyungsoo sent towards Baekhyun was one of concern.

“No, they just… left him with that. I’m afraid the night will be too cold.”

“Yeah, no one would be happy if he died of pneumonia before he could give us some useful information, right?” Kyungsoo said, but it was clear he wasn’t thinking about that. They could pretend, that they didn’t care about Baekhyun, but it was hard not to when the boy was just there, being friendly with them even though he was a prisoner.

Kyungsoo opened the small window through which they gave Baekhyun food and put the clothes there. Baekhyun had been watching them all the time, a little wary. “Are those new clothes?” he asked, his eyes starting to glow a happy smile spreading in his face.

“Yeah, they are” Kyungsoo said. “Thank Sehun here, he asked me to bring them.”

“Sehun, uh?” Baekhyun said, going carefully to take the clothes, not only a new shirt but pants and even socks. “Thank you, both of you” he said, putting the shirt on before starting to change his pants without any shame, not caring if the others were looking. It wasn’t like he had any kind of privacy after all, with the transparent walls.

“I should go” Sehun said, looking at Kyungsoo, even if it was directed at Baekhyun as well.

They did the official salutation before Sehun walked out from there. A part of him wanted to call Jongin and sleep with him, just like the night before, but Jongin would want to rest, so he decided against it, and went to sleep alone. Needless to say, he didn’t sleep at all that night.

It went on for a few days. Sehun arrived in the morning, Baekhyun still asleep. Then, Baekhyun just talked and talked about everything. About books, about food, about the sea… He even talked about his family, his mother, his home.

He sounded so melancholic then, when he talked about home. “I haven’t been there in years” he had said, and oh, Sehun understood him perfectly. He missed his family as well, he knew what Baekhyun was feeling. At least, Sehun knew that he could go home any time. Baekhyun, right now, being a prisoner… not so much.

And for days, they came, this Leeteuk with the guards, and they took Baekhyun, tortured him, a wrecked mess of broken bones and bleeding wounds. Every day, doctor Zhang came and he took care of him as well as he could.

One of those days, when they came back dragging Baekhyun, something was different. Baekhyun, usually smiling or making fun of them even when he was almost unconscious, was deadly quiet, while Leeteuk looked angrier than ever.

“You will give us what we want” Leeteuk threatened “Because we know where they live. We are close to them, and I swear they will suffer. They will get our little gift, and maybe will turn themselves in, yeah? And unless you talk, I can promise you that their torture will be much worse than yours.”

And so, they left, leaving Baekhyun on the floor as always, but this time, he didn’t say anything, didn’t answer back. He looked like he wanted to cry, and that was too much.

“Why don’t you do it?” Sehun asked.

Baekhyun almost jumped on his spot, not expecting Sehun to talk. Sehun tried to remain still, serious, but was still expecting an answer. “Do what?” Baekhyun mumbled, and he sounded tired as well, voice hoarse.

“Tell them what they want” Sehun replied. He didn’t know what had happened but Baekhyun looked so shocked and taken aback, he was really shaken this time. “It would be easier, for you.”

“What would you know” Baekhyun answered, sounding a little angry. “Of course you would say that, I’m your enemy after all.”

That hurt, but he was right at the end of the day. “What’s so important that you can’t say anything?” Sehun asked. “I don’t know what they said to you today but… Is it worth it, to hold onto your pride?”

“Do you really think this is a matter of pride?” Baekhyun hissed. He was still bleeding, clearly in pain, and doctor Zhang hadn’t appeared, so Sehun sent him a quick comm message, asking for help. “Because then you are more naïve than you look.”

“If not pride, then why not tell them?” Sehun mumbled, a little hurt at Baekhyun’s words.

“Do you know anything about what’s really happening, Sehun?” Baekhyun asked “About the war? What did they taught you about the war, about us, the Outsiders?”

“You are dangerous, you threaten our peace. Living outside is toxic but you still do it, you don’t care about dying because of that, and your goal is to destroy our defences against the toxic air” Sehun quickly said, he knew that. Everyone knew that.

“And you believe that?” Baekhyun snorted “Why would anyone want to live in a toxic place?”

“Because you don’t want to be controlled?” Sehun said, a little unsure of himself “You think you’re free, but you are just putting everyone at risk.”

“We are free” Baekhyun said “We have survived your Empire’s need of controlling every human being, because having us, outside of their control and power, is dangerous for them.”

“That’s not-“

“The air was toxic, hundreds of years ago, that’s right, but it’s not anymore. They make you believe that because it’s easier to control you this way. With fear. But we don’t want that, we don’t want to be controlled.”

“But you attack us” Sehun shot back “You attack our outer walls, you try to steal from us, to sabotage us.”

“We do now. We need to know your plans, need to know how to defend ourselves” Baekhyun said. “But we didn’t at first. We just wanted to live in peace, you know. Suddenly, there’s soldiers coming after people, shouting things about revenge and about our place, and killing us.”

Sehun just stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. Baekhyun was almost hysterical, it was weird seeing him like that.

“They are liars, Sehun” he whispered “I’m not going to betray my people just to save my ass. I don’t care if they threaten my mother or my brother or my sister. They would gladly die to defend our right to be free, and so would I.”

“What’s going on here?”

Sehun immediately went pale, being caught talking with the prisoner. Fortunately, it was only doctor Zhang, who was observing him with a suspicious look.

“Nothing, doctor Zhang, everything’s correct” Sehun answered, regaining his military stance.

“I’m sorry I’m so late today” the doctor apologized “They held me up on purpose, I don’t know what our guest has done to anger them, but it was effective.”

“It’s okay, doc” Baekhyun said, having relaxed already, his usual smile on his face. “I’m not that bad, just missing a couple fingers.”

Sehun turned to look at him again, at his hand, and just like Baekhyun had said, there were two missing fingers in his left hand. He suddenly felt the need to throw up.

No one said anything else after that, just doctor Zhang and Donghyuck doing their work silently. After they were gone, Baekhyun sighed loudly.

“Just forget about all this” he said, “I don’t intend to convince anyone, and I would prefer if you could consider me a friend, not an enemy. It’s… lonely here. I know you can’t talk back to me, but I know you listen, and it makes me feel like I’m not alone.”

Sehun looked at him carefully thinking about everything, and then nodded. It was the only answer he could allow himself to give him. Baekhyun seemed satisfied because he smiled brightly.

That night, Sehun went to Jongin’s room. It had been a few days since Jongin had returned from his mission, so he decided it was time to visit his friend. He sent Chanyeol’s comm a message as well, wanting to see him. He needed his friends more than ever in that moment.

“I heard our Sehunnie is in charge of guarding that Byun boy” was the first thing Chanyeol said when he saw him. “I heard he is being very difficult to deal with.”

“Yeah, I heard that as well” Jongin added. They were sitting on the floor, like when they were little kids that liked to share stories at night. “He won’t say a thing.”

Sehun pressed his lips into a thin line before answering. “Yeah, they are very angry at him. Today they even made the doctor arrive late so he would be suffering longer, even with a couple of fingers severed off.”

Jongin winced. “Wow, poor guy.”

Chanyeol just shrugged. “He should just talk, and they would leave him alone.”

“It’s not that easy” Sehun mumbled. Jongin and Chanyeol went quiet, looking at him with a curious look.

“What do you mean?” Jongin asked, leaning on Sehun’s arm.

“I think he strongly believes we are the bad guys” he lamely explained. “Like, he is absolutely convinced that the outside is toxic-free and the ‘empire’ is just trying to control us with lies about the outside, that they only want to be free.”

“Well, that’s just bullshit” Chanyeol snorted as Jongin laughed.

“It is?” Sehun asked quietly.

“Of course it is” Jongin furrowed his brows “We have to put on special equipment to go on missions outside, we got toxicity meters with us, and you can see how it fluctuates from place to place.”

“Why would they lie to us about that?” Chanyeol added, giving Sehun a strange look.

“To control us?” Sehun said, a little lamely.

“That’s just Outsider bullshit, Sehun” Chanyeol said, suddenly serious. “You shouldn’t let that Byun get to you.”

“Yeah, Sehunnie, he is trying to make you doubt. If they really want to ‘just be free’ why would they attack us?”

“People have died because of those attacks, Sehun.”

Sehun just sighed, because Jongin and Chanyeol had always been firmer believers than him, so the conversation was just fruitless. “You are right. He is just an Outsider, after all.”

They just decided to let it go, pretending that conversation had never happened, and maybe it was for the best. Sehun could pretend his own conversation with Baekhyun had never happened; he could try to at least.

For the next days, he really tried, but after all day with Baekhyun – Leeteuk being angrier as the time went on and Baekhyun didn’t talk – he found himself thinking about everything. Overthinking about it. It made no sense, why would they lie to them? To control them… It was absurd. Completely absurd. But Baekhyun seemed so convinced, it was easy to believe him.

Like this, Sehun started to doubt. Baekhyun didn’t talk about the war again, he just kept talking about him, and about his friends. About playing when they were younger, about the trees – which were another new thing to Sehun. Trees, the forest, the mountains… All of those things were strange to him.

The worse thing was the way Baekhyun talked about the outside, because it made Sehun want to live by himself all of that, instead of being trapped inside. When had he started to feel trapped?

“You should see it, Sehun” Baekhyun said. “The forest smells so good after it has rained, it’s my favourite smell”. He could almost smell it, the way Baekhyun described it. “I want to take you there, you would like it.”

Sehun also thought he would like it. It was dangerous.

“Do you consider me a friend?” Baekhyun said one day, just before Kyungsoo was bound to arrive. “I know you won’t answer, but… I consider you my friend. It’s weird, because I’m literally your prisoner, but I can see in your eyes that you are a kind man, Sehun. You are not bad.”

Sehun just blinked, trying not to cry, because Baekhyun’s voice was full with a feeling he didn’t understand. He was trying to tell him something, but Sehun just didn’t get what.

That night, he felt uneasy, thinking about Baekhyun’s words. It had been nights since he had been able to sleep well, but he still tried, closing his eyes. Behind the eyelids, he could only see Baekhyun in his cell, talking about the sea and about trees.

There was a noise outside, which made Sehun snap his eyes open. He got up, a little nervous, no one should be there in the middle of the night, the rules were very strict about that. He pushed the button to open his dorm’s door and what greeted him outside was someone pointing a gun to his head. It was too dark to see his face, but he was obviously not a friend.

Sehun just froze, wanting to close his eyes but not daring to. The man with the gun pushed him until they were inside the dorm, the lights still off. There was another man, trailing behind the first, and they closed the door. That was it, he was going to die.

The lights were turned on, which forced Sehun to momentarily close his eyes due to the sudden brightness. He opened them almost instantly, and even if the man with the gun still pointing at him was a complete stranger, the one behind him? That was Baekhyun. His throat went dry.

“So, is this the one?” the man with the gun asked. Baekhyun smiled, nodding.

“Yeah, this is Sehun.”

“We should just shoot him and flee, Baek” the man said, looking at Sehun suspiciously “We should be out here already.”

“Please Jongdae, let me talk to him. One minute” Baekhyun pleaded. The man just sighed and took a step back, still pointing at Sehun with the gun.

“One minute. Then, we leave.”

Baekhyun approached Sehun, who was still frozen, and put a hand on his cheek, smiling. “I’m leaving” he said. Obviously Sehun wanted to answer, but he didn’t dare to. “Back to my home, back to the outside. Please tell Kyungsoo I’m sorry, he is going to have a big headache tomorrow.”

Sehun nodded, waiting for Baekhyun to add something else. “Aren’t you going to talk to me, even now?” Baekhyun pouted.

“Please don’t kill me” was Sehun answer. He didn’t think it was funny but Baekhyun and the other man, Jongdae, apparently did think so, because Baekhyun laughed while the other snorted.

“I’m not here to kill you” Baekhyun explained “I’m here to thank you. I would’ve gone mad if not for you.”

“I did nothing” Sehun mumbled, but Baekhyun was looking at him with such intensity he wasn’t really sure about that anymore.

Suddenly, Baekhyun pulled him closer, joining their lips in a quick kiss. Sehun couldn’t help it, he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Baekhyun’s lips before the other pulled back.

“Come with us” Baekhyun said, voice firm and sure of himself. “Come with us, to the outside. To the sea, to the trees!”

And Sehun? Sehun hesitated.

**Part II. Outside**

_“What’s outside?” the little kid asked, looking at the glass that covered the streets, the park where he played._

_“What do you mean outside, sweetie?” his mother answered, pecking his cheek. “We are outside.”_

_“No” the kid firmly said, pointing to the glass ceiling, that fake sky “Outside”_

_“There’s nothing good there, Sehunnie, only bad things.”_

_The little kid nodded, his mother knew best._

Time stopped. _Come with us._ Could Sehun do that? For a moment, he felt a pull, something inside him telling him to take Baekhyun’s hand, to go with him, to see the trees and the sea. Sehun hesitated, and then took a step back.

“I can’t” he said, bringing a hand to his mouth. “I can’t, I-“

Baekhyun looked hurt, turning to Jongdae, who pointed Sehun with his gun again. “I’m not giving you a choice, pretty boy ” he said. “I’m sure you understand we can’t leave you here now that you’ve seen us.”

Sehun took another step back, but he was trapped, practically touching the wall. He slowly tried to take his comm but Baekhyun snatched it before he could. He was fast. “I can’t let you do that” he said, sounding really apologetic.

“Please, I won’t say anything” Sehun begged, looking at Baekhyun. He couldn’t leave this place; he was afraid, of betraying his people and afraid of the outside. He wasn’t ready.

“We will make sure they know you came unwillingly” Jongdae snorted, cocking his gun “Now, you are going to walk, or else I will shoot you in the head, am I clear? I’m not Baekhyun, I have no current emotional attachment to you, and I won’t fucking hesitate.”

“I’m sorry” Baekhyun said. “I’ll go first, Jongdae will be the last.”

“Why me?” Sehun asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, but still trembling.

Baekhyun looked at him, confused. “I was hoping your curiosity would overcome your fear” he said, caressing his cheek “I was hoping you’d like to come with me if I asked.”

“That’s enough, lovebirds” Jongdae hissed “Time is running out.” 

Baekhyun nodded and took his gun out as well, walking towards the door. “Alright. You follow me, Sehun.”

“And do not try to be brave” Jongdae warned him when Sehun passed by his side, and the other nodded, believing him completely when he said he would shoot him.

They went through corridors and halls, using Sehun’s comm to pass through doors and elevators. A part of Sehun hoped they would find someone that would stop them; but another one didn’t want that, because they would hurt Baekhyun again, and Baekhyun had been hurt enough already.

He could feel Jongdae’s gun poking his back, which made Sehun even more tense, being careful of not doing anything that Jongdae could deem as ‘brave’ or ‘crazy’. It was strange that they hadn’t encountered anyone yet, but it was also strange how Baekhyun moved like he knew the way perfectly… maybe he did. How much did they know, then?

They arrived at a strange door, one Sehun had never seen, it was big and looked much more steady than the usual ones. Instead of using Sehun’s comm, Jongdae whispered “No funny businesses” and passed by Sehun’s side, checking the pad and entering some code. Baekhyun at his side was now watching over Sehun.

The doors opened, and Sehun saw how Jongdae’s shoulders dropped, the man clearly relaxing. When he looked at what was on the other side, Sehun took a step back. That was… That was the outside. They were at one of the emergency back doors, fuck fuck fuck.

“No, no, no” he whimpered “Don’t make me go there.”

Jongdae went straight to him, grabbing his arm while he pointed the gun to his head. “You are coming with us, now, don’t make a fuss.”

“I can’t go to the outside, we’ll die, we cannot go there” Sehun whispered, his voice trembling with fear.

Baekhyun put his hand on Jongdae’s where the other was grabbing Sehun. “The kid is afraid, please don’t be like this” he mumbled.

“Nothing is going to happen, fuck” Jongdae said between gritted teeth.

“Sehun” Baekhyun said, ignoring the other. “We need you to collaborate with us, okay? Jongdae is a little trigger-happy, just come with us.”

Sehun closed his eyes for a second, because he didn’t really have a choice, and nodded. “Finally” Jongdae said as Sehun walked with them. But he was still afraid, and when they finally put a foot outside the door, he could feel a few tears rolling down his face.

The air was dense, and Sehun felt like he couldn’t breathe. They had lied, Baekhyun had lied, he couldn’t breathe and he was going to die, and never see his family nor his friends again. “I can’t breathe, I can’t-“ he tried to say, but before he could say anything else, he felt a pricking pain on his neck, and everything became blurry until it went black.

It was weird, he felt dizzy. Sehun was hearing muffled voices and he tried to open his eyes but it was so hard, and he would better go back to sleep, and that he did . He went back to the black void, but this time he dreamed. They were meaningless dreams, only shapes trying to tell him something but failing. The next time he woke up, he abruptly opened his eyes and tried to sit up.

He was in a room, not like his own, no. It was a little bigger than the place where he had been sleeping the last months, smaller than his room back home. Home… The memories of what had happened came back to him, and he felt a rush of energy travel through his body. He needed to run from there, so he tried to stand up, realizing his right arm was handcuffed to the bedpost. Fuck.

There was some kind of fuss outside his room, and the door opened, making Sehun crawl back in the bed, trying to make himself small in the corner. A woman entered, looking at him before using something that looked like a comm and not at the same time to say. “He is awake, just so you know”

Sehun didn’t hear what the other person answered, only that she hummed and pocketed the not-comm again. She approached Sehun after that, squinting her eyes to take a look at him. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but decided against it in the last moment and just sighed, going from the bed to a window in the wall.

“I’m going to open the window, alright? You’ve been out for some time, this room could use a little ventilation.”

Sehun kept quiet, there was no point in answering when he was just a prisoner there , whatever he said wouldn’t matter after all. The woman ignored his silence and opened the window. “Ah, some fresh air, that’s nice.”

A soft breeze entered the room and Sehun stilled, tensing, because there it was, the outside air again. It was so dense and started to have trouble breathing again. Sehun tried to keep calm, breathe in, breathe out , but he was suffocating, and soon there were tears in his eyes. Why keep him there if they were going to kill him by letting him breathe the toxic air?

“Hey, Sehun, calm down” he heard the woman say, with concern in her voice “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t breathe” he managed to let out “I can’t…”

“Fuck” she said, going at his side, and putting a hand on Sehun’s chest and the other on his face. “Look at me. Hey, look at me.”

Sehun obeyed, bringing his eyes up to hers. She was worried, maybe he wasn’t supposed to die like he first thought. She was mumbling ‘breathe slowly, in, out, come on’ and he tried to follow her directions. After what seemed like an eternity to Sehun, he was breathing normally again. The air, it felt still weird, and he wanted to cry because he had been warned about this, and he was going to die but at least he could breathe now.

For a moment, there was silence, the woman’s hands still on him, weirdly comforting. Outside – it was weird to say that word, outside – a bird chirped. He had never heard a real bird chirping or tweeting. The woman pulled back, sensing that Sehun was already calmed.

“Alright, just try to breathe slowly. I have to go now, someone will come soon. Don’t try anything silly” she warned him, before leaving him alone again.

Someone would come, to what? To torture him, the same way they had tortured Baekhyun? Baekhyun… He felt weird, he felt betrayed. It was dumb because Baekhyun had been his enemy since the beginning because it was them who had captured him and tortured him for information, but he still felt betrayed.

Why him? Baekhyun had gone specifically to his room, to get him, and he… he had kissed Sehun. Why had he done that? Was he playing with Sehun, trying to make him help them? But it had gone wrong, Sehun hadn’t wanted to go with them, so they had resorted to… to bring him along. To kidnap him, capture him.

Sehun had been a fool because he had started to consider Baekhyun… a friend. How could he be his friend, when Baekhyun was his prisoner? How could Sehun even think about that? He had gotten what he deserved.

The need to cry grew, but Sehun tried to contain it. He couldn’t cry, he was a trained soldier, and he would suck it up and deal with whatever the Outsiders had for him, even if just the thought was scary.

It didn’t take long before he heard steps again, and this time it seemed that more than one person was coming. Sehun was sitting on the bed, still handcuffed and unable to anywhere else.

The door opened again, and three people went in: a man and a woman he didn’t know, and Baekhyun. Sehun looked at the two strangers, trying to not meet Baekhyun’s eyes. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

“Oh Sehun” the man said, smiling. It was a nice smile, but Sehun didn’t trust it, didn’t trust them. “I’m Kim Junmyeon, I’m sort of, ah, one of the leaders around here.” So, he was a big shot, as Baekhyun was supposed to be. Was this Baekhyun superior?

“I’m Joohyun” the woman said, with her arms crossed “And you remember Baekhyun, I’m sure”

“He better do” Baekhyun pouted, like Sehun’s life was a joke to him. Maybe it was, now that the tables had turned.

“What do you want from me” Sehun asked, looking down. He didn’t have the courage to face any of them at that moment.

There was a moment of silence, in which Sehun dared to look up a second, just in time to see them share a look. What did that mean? It was Junmyeon who broke the line they had formed and went to Sehun’s side. He sat on the edge of the bed, not too close, which Sehun appreciated.

“We don’t really want anything from you” Junmyeon said, with that nice and probably fake smile of his again . “We don’t usually take prisoners, uhm… You were an exception.”

“You were a mistake” Joohyun buffed “They should’ve let you there, but Baekhyun here couldn’t fucking do it, so they brought you along.”

“Could I speak to him?” Baekhyun said, his familiar pout on his face “Alone?”

Junmyeon and Joohyun shared a look before Joohyun nodded. “Alright, he is all yours. Please Baekhyun, don’t scare him more than he already is. Not everyone is like you.”

“I choose to take that as a compliment instead of an insult” Baekhyun happily answered, going to Junmyeon and tapping his shoulder “Now go, I need to speak with Sehun. You can come back later.”

Junmyeon rubbed Baekhyun’s head before standing out and leaving the room with Joohyun, which left Sehun alone with him. Sehun looked down again, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk with Baekhyun.

“I’m sorry” Baekhyun said, and he sounded sincere “You’re here because of me, I’m sorry.”

“Let me go back, then” Sehun said, his voice trembling.

“I can’t do that” the other answered, more serious than before. “I’m sorry for that too.”

“Why did you bring me here?” Sehun mumbled “I don’t understand.”

“We needed a hostage inside, in case something went wrong” Baekhyun started “Kyungsoo was… Well, unconscious, so we couldn’t use him, it would drag us down.”

“Why me, then?” Sehun asked again “You could have taken anyone else.”

“The, uhm, official reason is that I thought I could convince you to come voluntarily. I had some tiny hope, that’s true, but I didn’t really think you would want to come.”

Sehun just kept quiet, waiting for Baekhyun to go on. The other gave a long sigh, getting closer to Sehun on the bed, so he could rest his hand on Sehun’s knee. Sehun had nowhere to go, anyway, nowhere to run, so he said nothing about the gesture.

“I shouldn’t have told Jongdae to use you. The plan was to leave the person we used behind, at the doors, but… We had already used your comm, they would know it was you who helped us, and I know they aren’t exactly kind and understanding. You’d have been punished, for not fighting back, for not… choosing to die instead of helping us. I couldn’t stand the thought so, I convinced Jongdae to bring you here.”

“And now I’m your prisoner” Sehun mumbled, looking at him, his lips pressed in a thin line.

“You aren’t a prisoner, Sehun” Baekhyun said “It’s true, we can’t let you go but… Don’t think of this as that. You’ll be free to do whatever you want.”

“Except leaving.” Sehun remarked.

“Yeah, except leaving.”

“Can I contact my family, then?” Sehun suddenly asked, perking up.

Baekhyun winced at that. “Uh, you better not, for your own good. I think it’s for the best if they think we are being bad boys, torturing you and all that stuff, you would be a war prisoner in their eyes, not a coward who helped us escape.”

“A coward” Sehun laughed bitterly “That’s what I am, right? A coward.”

“Shit, Sehun, I didn’t want to say that, I-“

“It’s okay. I am a coward. Your friend pointed a gun at me and told me to obey and I obeyed. I could’ve refused, but I didn’t. I chose to betray my people.”

“That’s not true” Baekhyun said, softly. Sehun was looking down again, feeling Baekhyun’s hand squeezing his knee. “You are not a coward.”

“You didn’t give them any information” Sehun replied “They tortured you, left you half-dead and you still didn’t give in. I’m a failure.”

Instead of answering, Baekhyun came a little closer to him, just enough to hug Sehun’s knees, which Sehun didn’t actually mind. It was stupid, but he found the gesture comforting. He closed his eyes because he felt safe with Baekhyun there beside him. He knew he couldn’t trust him, even if he wanted to believe him.

Sehun began to cry then, sobbing, the situation was too stressful, he was never meant to leave to the Outside, not even in a mission, he was never supposed to be in danger, and yet there he was.

He didn’t know when Junmyeon and Joohyun had gone into the room again, but when he could calm himself and stop the tears, they were there, waiting. Fuck, they had seen him cry, so there was no point in hiding it, but it was still embarrassing.

Baekhyun coughed a little and released his knees, going to stand next to the others. Sehun immediately missed the warmth.

“I don’t know what Baekhyun has told you” Junmyeon said, glancing at said man “But… You are no prisoner here, Sehun.”

Sehun was about to answer the same he had said to Baekhyun, but for what? Instead, he shacked his cuffed wrist. “This states otherwise.”

“You are not a prisoner” Joohyun said again “But we can’t let you free until we are sure you won’t cause a havoc”.

“And how am I supposed to prove that” Sehun scowled. The three of them exchanged a look – again. Sehun was getting used to it.

“We only need your word” Junmyeon said, in the end. “Also, you’ll be with Baekhyun, he offered himself even though we wanted him to rest, so he will have an eye on you.”

“Aye aye” Baekhyun confirmed, grinning.

“Alright” Joohyun sighed “We still have much to do so we’ll be going.”

“I got this” Baekhyun said, that infuriating grin still on his face. “Don’t worry, Sehun is a good boy.”

Sehun’s ears turned red as Junmyeon snorted and even Joohyun looked amused, as she ruffled Baekhyun’s hair before they left the room again. He then walked to Sehun’s side, grasping something with his hand.

“This” Baekhyun said, showing him a kind of metallic bracelet “Has a tracker. It’s only that, nothing harmless, but as I said, you must stay here.”

Sehun just stared at him but didn’t say anything when Baekhyun took his free wrist and clasped the bracelet around it, which made a weird sound before a green dot appeared for a second before disappearing again.

“Done” Baekhyun muttered to himself. Then he pulled out his not-comm and brought it to Sehun’s handcuff. Automatically, permission to release was asked in the not-comm – maybe Sehun should just call it comm, as it worked fairly similar – and Baekhyun just pressed his finger to confirm. Like that, Sehun’s hand was free.

“What now?” he asked, rubbing his wrist now that it had been released.

“Now you shower” Baekhyun said, pointing a finger to a door on the side of the room. “I’ll get you a new set of clothes… Then, we’ll go get something to eat.”

Sehun nodded, his brain wasn’t still completely processing what was happening. He was still waiting for Baekhyun to laugh at him for believing they were just going to let him roam free. It was unthinkable, that he was not going to be interrogated, tortured for information, killed…

“We have hot water if that’s what you’re wondering” Baekhyun added. Sehun had been lost in thought, so he blinked and nodded again, standing out.

He went to the door, behind which was a bathroom just like the one he had back at the quarters. A shower, sink with a mirror and a toilet, just enough. Sehun didn’t need more, anyway.

The shower was quick, and he wrapped himself in a towel before leaving the bathroom into the room again. Baekhyun was there, Sehun didn’t know if he had left and came back, or never went anywhere. In any case, a set of clothes was on the bed, so Sehun took it, returning to the bathroom to change.

“Aw, don’t be shy” Baekhyun pouted “I changed in front of you all the time, didn’t I?”

“Well, I’m not you” Sehun replied, closing the door of the bathroom after him.

He could hear Baekhyun bubbly laughter, and it irritated him. He first thought it was because he felt like Baekhyun was mocking him because Baekhyun was now free while Sehun was not. But no, it wasn’t because of that, it was because this was the Baekhyun he knew, the same one that had been in that cell, suffering that torture. Baekhyun was strong where Sehun wasn’t, and that was a hard pill to swallow.

After that, Baekhyun led him out of the room. They were in a building different from his quarters, different from his own house. It was… simpler. There were no big metallic doors, no pads with codes, no big ceilings.

They passed by a few people who waved at Baekhyun and directed curious glances towards Sehun, while Sehun just tried to stay low. He was obviously an intruder there, not fitting with the rest, but at least he wasn’t treated like a war criminal.

After just a few minutes they arrived at what looked like a dining hall. There were several people seated, with food in front of them and chatting. Someone called Baekhyun’s name which had them turn towards the voice.

“Oh, Jongdae!” Baekhyun waved back, grabbing Sehun’s wrist before walking to the table where Jongdae was sitting. Sehun had tensed, Baekhyun probably had figured out as much, memories of Jongdae pointing the gun at his head still fresh.

“Look who we have here” Jongdae said after looking at Sehun, a grin on his face. He looked so different from the man of the other night. “Seulgi told me he woke up. Scared her to death. How is he behaving?”

“He is behaving perfectly fine” Sehun answered, face blank “And he is right in front of you so you can ask me directly.”

“Oooh, the man bites” Jongdae laughed. He pated Sehun’s shoulder after that, noticing how tense the other was. “Look, I would say I’m sorry about the other night, but my priority was getting Baekhyun out, so I would do it again.” 

“Jongdae, don’t be mean” Baekhyun slapped his arm.

“I’m not mean, I’m honest” he replied, sticking his tongue out to Baekhyun. Then, he turned to Sehun again. “I hope we can get along. I know you are our enemy and all that stuff but Baekhyun has told me only good things about you, and I trust his judgment”

He had? Sehun looked at Baekhyun who just smiled brightly, nodding. “I will go get us something to eat” he said. “Don’t kill Jongdae while I’m gone, okay?”

“Like he could” Jongdae snorted.

“Maybe I would” Sehun muttered, while Baekhyun went to take the food. “Who knows, you should sleep with an eye open.”

“Please” Jongdae sighed, exasperated. “You are like a big puppy. Not scary at all”.

Sehun pouted which prompted Jongdae to laugh. He found himself liking Jongdae’s company, the guy being as funny and witty as Baekhyun was. He shouldn’t, that was not how he should feel, things didn’t work like this. You weren’t supposed to be captured by the enemy and then… befriend them. It was wrong. Still, there wasn’t much that Sehun could do, he wasn’t stupid, and he was not going to be hostile if they were treating him right, it would be a dumb move, considering his life was in their hands.

“Oh, so you are Baekhyun’s new boy toy?”. Sehun looked up, a woman standing there with a grin on her face. Was she talking to him?

“Come on, Sooyoung, don’t be mean” Jongdae laughed, patting the seat next to him for her. “This is Sehun. Sehun, Sooyoung.”

The woman gave Sehun a look, raising his eyebrows. “Well, I didn’t think he was Baekhyun’s type” he said, making Sehun blush a little. What did she mean by that?

“And what’s Baekhyun’s type?” Baekhyun said, laughing, and sitting next to Sehun, giving him a bowl with some broth, with vegetables and meat, and a piece of bread.

“Short men, with an easy smile, and women who look like they could kill you” Sooyoung answered, smiling sweetly while Jongdae cackled.

“Why, Sooyoung, are you saying you are my type? Should I take you on a date, then?” Baekhyun flirted, fluttering his eyebrows. Sehun felt so out of place there, but what could he do? He stayed quiet, feeling his heartbeat loudly on his chest, almost afraid that the rest could hear it too.

“You can try” Sooyoung scoffed “If you like being humiliated, then go ahead, ask me out”

“Can’t be worse than when Taeyeon broke up with him in public” Jongdae teased, which made Baekhyun groan.

“Alright, enough, you’re embarrassing me in front of Sehun” he pouted. Sehun looked up then, the others having his eyes on him. He sank on the chair, trying to make himself smaller.

“He is shy” Sooyoung noticed, diverting her attention from him and returning it to her meal. “The opposite of you, Baekhyun. I can see it.”

“After all the trouble we went through to bring him here” Jongdae grunted.

That was it. Sehun let the spoon he was using fall on the table with a big ‘thud’. “Can you stop talking like I’m not present?” he snapped, pursing his lips. “I didn’t ask you to bring me here, so please stop pretending I’m not a prisoner because no matter what you say, or what you do, I’m still not allowed to leave. Do you want to pretend you are being nice to me? Fine. But don’t treat me like… a dog. Like a pet Baekhyun just adopted, because I’m not”

The three of them got quiet and at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “You are not my pet” Baekhyun softly answered, sounding sad and guilty “I’m sorry if we made it seem like that.”

“Yes, you did. Everyone does. You just love rubbing in my face that I’m here because you wanted, that I’m… alive and being treated well because you want to, like my entire life depends on you liking me now.”

“That’s not true” Baekhyun said, a stern look in his face “You would have received the same treatment, whether I liked you or not. Maybe you wouldn’t have been brought here in the first place, but I considered that a better alternative than leaving you to be punished. We know what your people do, how merciless they are. I couldn’t let you suffer through that.”

“Baekhyun’s right, you know” Jongdae added, sounding apologetic “We don’t make a lot of prisoners, mostly because their orders are to kill themselves before being captured. But we don’t treat anyone badly, we don’t torture people, it’s not our style. Your freedom here would be the same if you were a random prisoner instead of yourself.”

Even when the words were simpler, that was a lot to take in. Sehun wasn’t going to apologize for his outburst, because even if they were telling the truth, it didn’t change the fact that everyone was treating him like Baekhyun’s charity case.

“What do you mean… kill themselves before being captured” was what Sehun asked instead, looking intensely at Jongdae.

The man squirmed in his seat, hesitating about telling him or no. Sooyoung sighed and answered instead. “Your soldiers, the ones the Empire sends to kill us, to capture us? They have strict orders of killing themselves before being captured.”

“That’s not…” Sehun couldn’t believe it. “Why… Why would they do that?”

“To protect your secrets. What would happen if we captured someone, they realized living outside is perfectly possible, and then came back with the truth?”

Baekhyun put a hand on Sehun’s knee, sensing that the other was altered with the new information.

“We’ve had… prisoners.” Jongdae said “At first, we just let them come back, making sure they didn’t see the way back so they couldn’t track us. Our spies on the inside confirmed that they were killed the moment they arrived at your base, and we were blamed for it.”

“After that, we captured a little squad, just four people. We decided to not let them go back, so a search party was sent for them, and they were murdered alongside our people guarding them.” 

“Are there more prisoners, like me?” Sehun asked, his throat dry.

“Not at the moment” Baekhyun shocked his head “We realized it was too dangerous for us, so we decided to not take prisoners ever again.”

“But I’m here” Sehun weakly said, “Does that mean you are in danger?”

“We are in constant danger, Sehun” Jongdae said, smiling at him. “Baekhyun made a decision, and I trusted him. You were not captured close to here, so they don’t have any leads to your location, so don’t worry about that.”

Sehun opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to answer. Baekhyun squeezed his knee before standing up. “Alright, this is enough for today, we are overwhelming him. Let’s see you guys later, alright?”

Jongdae and Sooyoung said their goodbyes as Sehun let himself be dragged outside the dining hall by Baekhyun. They walked in silence, but to Sehun’s surprise, they didn’t go to the same room as before, but to another one. It was pretty similar, actually, except that it was a mess of clothes and books and just papers.

“Come inside” Baekhyun said. “Let’s lie on my bed.”

Sehun nodded, not really processing anything, his mind still thinking about all that had been said in the dining hall. Baekhyun helped him on the bed – it was bigger than Sehun’s, more comfortable to fit two people, and just cuddled him.

Being cuddled reminded him of Jongin , of the warmth and security his friend always gave him, and it instantly made him relax. He allowed Baekhyun to cuddle him, even cuddled back, with his eyes closed.

“Hey, Sehun, don’t cry” Baekhyun whispered, cleaning Sehun’s tears with his finger. Sehun hadn’t even realized he was crying, the tears just falling from his eyes onto his clothes and the sheets. “I’m sorry if we upset you… If I upset you.”

Sehun didn’t answer, just letting the tears flow and fall, and Baekhyun didn’t press on it, he just hummed a song, like a lullaby, meant for comfort. Sehun let himself be coddled like that; he was probably betraying his people, his friends, his family, but he needed it.

He didn’t know what to believe anymore. A part of him reminded him that he shouldn’t trust these people, that they were his enemies… The other part hesitated. Why would they lie? He wasn’t a big shot, he didn’t have any useful information they could use… They hadn’t even tried to get information out of him. And they sounded honest, not like they were trying to manipulate Sehun. It was weird, but Sehun felt like he could trust them.

And then, there was Baekhyun, who was still humming, holding Sehun in his arms while the other cried like a baby, like the baby he was. But he didn’t feel any shame, he didn’t feel embarrassed this time. He felt understood, he trusted Baekhyun, which was a dangerous thought, trusting him. Still, he did.

“Are you better?” Baekhyun asked softly when he noticed that Sehun had stopped crying. Sehun nodded, not trusting his words yet. “Hey, look at me.”

Sehun obeyed, looking up to Baekhyun, seeing the concern in his face. It felt nice, knowing that Baekhyun cared about him, that he was worried about him.

Baekhyun was thinking hard, about something, Sehun could see it in his eyes. Eventually, he broke the eye contact, glancing at Sehun’s lips and then looking at his eyes again. Sehun gulped, throat suddenly dry, and licked his lips.

Baekhyun followed that moment and smiled softly bringing their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a few moments, before Baekhyun said. “You are beautiful, you know that?”

Sehun felt a blush creep up his neck to his face and ears. “I am?”

Baekhyun laughed, bringing a hand to hold Sehun’s face, one of the fingers caressing his cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

“Please” Sehun said, voice hoarse. He closed his eyes and Baekhyun’s lips were on his.

It was so different from the first kiss they shared. Back at the quarters, it had caught Sehun by surprise, he hadn’t been expecting it, he wasn’t able to really enjoy it, too shaken by the situation. Now, it was different, it was slow where it had been quick, caring where it had been desperate, full of contentment and acceptance where there had been only resignation.

They moved their lips together, Baekhyun pulling him closer, to which Sehun wasn’t going to complain. Baekhyun’s hands went to hold his waist while Sehun’s flew to the other’s hair, gripping it when Baekhyun rasped over his lip with his teeth.

They kissed, just like that, nice and slowly, learning what the other liked, and Sehun felt more at home at that moment that he had ever felt. Baekhyun had slipped a leg between his, and was soon on top of him, without even pulling away to breathe.

When they finally separated, gasping, their lips were red and puffy and they stayed in silence for a few moments, catching their breath. Then Baekhyun laughed, voice hoarse, before giving him another peck, and another and another. They were both laughing after that, while Baekhyun let himself fall at his side again.

They didn’t do anything more – even if both their bodies had reacted to the kissing – just lied there, holding hands and holding each other. Baekhyun gave him little kisses, all over his face, when he noticed Sehun was overthinking again; but they didn’t talk, just stayed in comfortable silence for a while.

After that, it was easier. Sehun still felt like he had to follow Baekhyun everywhere, even after the other had said “I meant it when I said you are not my… pet or something like that. You don’t have to keep me company if you don’t want to”. Sehun had scoffed at that and then kissed him silly.

Of course, Baekhyun was busy. In just a few days he started to get called for meetings and planning. He didn’t say so, but it was obvious. Sehun had known Baekhyun was someone important, someone with access to the decision making. It was easier to just ignore what Baekhyun did.

For a while, Sehun became pretty good at pretending. Good at pretending that he was there because he wanted to, not because he was forced to. Good at pretending that he wasn’t wearing a bracelet with a tracker, that he hadn’t left friends and family behind. Good at pretending that he wasn’t there, snuggling with the enemy.

He found himself not caring about Baekhyun being the so-called enemy, not caring about Jongdae witty remarks about them – about their relationship. Did they even have a relationship? They hadn’t talked about it, which was weird because Baekhyun loved to talk about everything. But when there were just the two of them in the room, they just kissed, they just comforted each other.

Sehun couldn’t know what Baekhyun was going through, but he was beginning to understand something: under that chirpy and sunny attitude, he was troubled, tormented by something. It was hard to hide when they were in bed, just looking each other in the eyes, undressing all the truths and lies they had. But they never talked. Not about that, at least.

Of course, those things never last forever. Sehun didn’t know how much time had passed since he arrived there, but there he was one day, returning from the dining hall alone. He had eaten lunch with Jongdae – which turned out pretty nice – and Minseok, another friend of theirs because Baekhyun was in one of his meetings.

He decided to return to his room, Baekhyun’s room, and wait for him there, but when he arrived, he could hear voices inside the room. One, Baekhyun himself, and the other seemed to be Junmyeon’s. Sehun hesitated and stood still where he was, trying to not make any sound.

“We have to do it now” Junmyeon was saying. “We need to act fast, I don’t know why they are hesitant.”

“Because it’s going to be the first time we actually attack, Junmyeon” Baekhyun answered, and he sounded tired. “They are scared.”

“It will be the first and the last” Junmyeon hissed “We have this planned, there’s no way we’ll fail. They’ll be done for good.”

“I know” Baekhyun hissed back “And you know I agree with you, but we have to convince them before. Try to not snap out next time so they won’t get defensive, Junmyeon.”

There was a moment of silence and Sehun gave a few steps back just in time for the door to open, Junmyeon storming out of the room. Baekhyun tried to go after him but decided against it when he was already out of the room.

He sighed and turned around to enter the room again, but he stopped, noticing Sehun. “Sehun.”

“What were you talking about?” he asked, eyes going from where Junmyeon had disappeared to Baekhyun again.

“Let’s talk inside” Baekhyun muttered, stepping aside and letting Sehun enter the room before him.

Once inside, he closed the other and turned to look at Sehun. He looked tired and suddenly older than before. “What did you meant… What are you going to do?” Sehun asked, voice trembling.

“What have you heard?” Baekhyun asked instead of answering.

Suddenly, Sehun felt anger creeping up to him. “Do you… do you realize I have friends back there? I have a family? I think I deserve to know if you are planning something that will put their lives in danger” he snapped, taking a step towards Baekhyun.

“You wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway” Baekhyun shot back, instantly regretting his words.

“Oh, so it is like that?” Sehun scoffed “I won’t be able to do anything even if you plan on murdering them in cold blood, right? I am fucking stupid for thinking that… I don’t know. Fuck.”

“We are not murdering anyone, Sehun” Baekhyun pleaded, closing the distance between them. “Sehun, it’s not like that.”

“Then fucking tell me what is like” Sehun said “I get, I’m your enemy, but I… I…”

“I’ll tell you” Baekhyun said, taking one of Sehun’s hand with his own. “I want you to trust me, Sehun, I mean it. I’ll tell you.”

“Now” Sehun said, blinking quickly a couple of times. “Tell me now, if you really want me to trust you.”

“Alright, alright” Baekhyun sighed “I promise you, we are not going to kill anyone, alright? We just plan to break your cupule. That protective sphere over your heads.”

Sehun gasped. “You can’t… It’s too protected, there’s no way…”

“We’ve been planning this for years, Sehun. Believe me, we can. We only have to decide when.”

“Then you take away their protection” Sehun whispered.

“Then, we prove to them that you don’t need it breathe, that you’ve been tricked all your life. And with no deaths. Your own people will go against the Empire then.”

“You plan to have them fight each other to win your stupid war?” Sehun said, shaken. Baekhyun groaned.

“No, we plan to open their eyes, Sehun, to give them the free will to choose, and to end this. We don’t want to win, because there’s nothing to win… We just want to live in peace.”

Sehun knew that Baekhyun was right, that what he was saying made sense, but he couldn’t help it, he felt outraged. Maybe it was the anger accumulated over the last days, not only with Baekhyun, and the rest of Outsiders but with his own people. Were they really his people after all this?

Because Baekhyun was right, they had lied to them, tricking them so they would support a stupid war, so they would support… the torture and killing of innocent people. Because Sehun had stood watching how they brought Baekhyun every day beaten up, bleeding, with two fingers cut off. 

His eyes dropped to Baekhyun’s hand, to where the proof of that torture being real was, and he wanted to scream, to break something, but instead of that he was standing there, with Baekhyun directly looking at him.

Sehun lunged forward and kissed him, and for the first time since that first kiss, it was not sweet, it was not nice and soft, it was a kiss full of frustration. Baekhyun immediately kissed back, closing his eyes. Their teeth clashed and it was wet, sloppy, full of tongue. Baekhyun bit Sehun’s lip, and then pulled back, looking at him before pushing him against the bed.

There, Baekhyun got in top of him, kissing him again with the same intensity as before. He soon had a hand under Sehun’s shirt, but he stopped, asking for permission. They had never gone further than just kissing and making out, but he needed that, and Sehun could feel Baekhyun needed it was well.

Sehun propped himself up, helping Baekhyun to get rid of his shirt to then do the same with his. Baekhyun latched himself to Sehun’s neck after that, kissing and marking, down and down, from the neck to his collarbones, and then to his chest, navel…

When he reached Sehun’s pants, he stopped again. “Are you sure?” he asked, softly, with a hint of insecurity that Sehun wasn’t expecting.

“Byun Baekhyun, please” Sehun breathed out “Fuck me hard enough that I can’t think of anyone but you tonight.” 

Baekhyun nodded then, kissing him, and complied. It was not the first time Sehun had sex, even if wasn’t a normal occurrence , but it was the first time that it felt that good. Baekhyun was gentle enough with him that he wasn’t hurt, but rough enough to give Sehun what he needed at that moment. He lost himself in Baekhyun, trusting him as the other whispered sweet words of encouragement as his hips moved, thrusting into Sehun.

Sehun came first, moaning as Baekhyun jerked him off, clenching around Baekhyun, and the other followed him shortly after. They laid there, just loudly breathing for a moment before Baekhyun pulled out and rolled so he was lying next to Sehun instead of on top of him.

Sehun turned to look at him, noticing that something was wrong, and pulled him into a kiss, a soft one this time. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Baekhyun closed his eyes for a second, sighing. “Do you… I’m afraid you feel forced to do this.”

“Do what?” Sehun asked, frowning.

“Be with me. Kiss me. Sleep with me” Baekhyun mumbled, and he sounded so afraid of what Sehun’s answer could be.

“Baekhyun…” Sehun said, caressing his cheek.

“You felt like we were sparing your life only because I liked you… You felt like they were treating you like my pet. It would not… be weird that you thought you owed me.”

“Baekhyun” Sehun said again, cutting him off “Don’t say that. I was angry at that, yes, and I lashed out on you because of that, yes, but… I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t want to, believe me. You are the only thing that makes sense to me now, the only one from just falling and falling in an endless pit of desperation.”

“Sehun…”

“Don’t” he hushed him. “There’s a lot of things that confuse me, and I still don’t know what to think, what to do, but if I’m sure of one thing, is that what I feel for you is deeper than anything I’ve ever felt.” 

Baekhyun giggled at that, tears rolling down his cheek. “I love you” he said, pulling him into another kiss.

This time, Sehun didn’t hesitate . “I love you too.”

**Part III. Pick a side**

It was nice, somewhat. Being held by Baekhyun, feeling safe with him, even feeling safe without him. They kissed each other senseless and Baekhyun fucked him nice and slow sometimes, or hard and rough when they needed it. Sehun had never felt this way, had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Baekhyun.

That didn’t mean they didn’t fight, because they did, and it was always about the same thing, the same issue coming up.

“You can’t” Baekhyun was saying, again.

“It’s my family” Sehun pleaded. “Please, I don’t know if I’ll ever see them after this, Baekhyun, I need to go.”

“You’ll be dead the moment you step a foot there” Baekhyun begged him. “I can’t let you go, Sehun.”

“A team of your people is going, why can’t I join them?”

“Because they are highly trained for this and they have high chances of not coming back; it is a suicide mission, Sehun, you’d still be in danger.” Baekhyun said, cupping Sehun’s face with his hands.

“You don’t trust me” Sehun whispered. “You think the moment I’m there I’ll betray you.”

“That’s not true” Baekhyun mumbled, giving him a soft peck on the lips. “I wouldn’t complain to you about the fucking boring meetings we have if I didn’t trust you, you know that’s confidential information.”

“You do that because I can’t go anywhere, I can’t spill to anyone.” Sehun was getting angry again, and he pulled back from Baekhyun.

“That’s unfair, Sehun,” Baekhyun said, sounding really tired.

“I’m just tired” Sehun said. “I’ll go outside.”

“Don’t go too far, please?”

“It’s not like you won’t know where I’ll be, right?” Sehun asked sardonically, showing off his bracelet with the tracker.

“Sehun…”

“I won’t go far, don’t worry” he curtly said before storming out the bedroom.

A few people waved when he passed, already knowing him, knowing of his relationship with Baekhyun. They were nice people, Sehun had learned, and they were all nice to Sehun, even if a few didn’t trust him at first – understandable, as he was part of the Empire they hated so much.

He finally got out the building, which wasn’t actually that big, and was situated in the middle of a clearing in a forest. He had walked around here a few times, always accompanied by Baekhyun or with someone else, like Jongdae or Seulgi, who had taken a liking on him. 

This time, he was alone, and he was angry, so he just strived towards the forest. He needed to get away, to have some fresh air – which was ironic, since he had believed the air was toxic until just a weeks ago, but it was the contrary. He felt better, lighter, relaxed, breathing the air, the natural air and not that shit they breathed back at home.

Home… He missed home. He didn’t miss being a soldier, he didn’t miss his squad or his boss, but he missed being home, feeling at home, his family and his friends. Jongin, Chanyeol… Hell, he missed even Kyungsoo. What would have happened to him, after Baekhyun escaped? He hoped it wasn’t anything bad.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. He stood still, realizing he had walked further than usual, and that he didn’t recognize where he was. It couldn’t be hard to come back, right? He just had to turn around and start walking again. He heard another noise.

Probably just some animals, it was nothing to worry about, right? Still, he was tense. Something told him that he was in danger and when he heard yet another noise, he started running. Not towards the base, where Baekhyun was, no, but inside the forest.

There was someone else there and he wouldn’t risk leading them to Baekhyun, or to the rest. So, Sehun ran and the noises followed him. He was being chased. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he knew it would be impossible to get away, so he stopped dead in his tracks, and turned, hands on the air.

“Don’t shoot” he shouted, his heart beating full speed, hoping that whoever was chasing him would not hurt him if he collaborated.

A few figures came out from behind trees and bushes, wearing breathing masks. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was hoping they were other Outsiders, so they would just bring him to the base and all would be fixed, but no. They were from the Empire, wearing masks to breathe because they still believed the air was toxic.

It was weird because they didn’t have a tag. Every type of squad had a tag, something to quickly recognize the squad they were in, but not these ones. They were tagless, and they were currently all holding their guns towards Sehun.

“To your knees” one of them shouted, and Sehun was quick to obey.

“I’m one of yours” he weakly said. “I was captured, but I managed to escape.”

The soldiers looked at each other before the same as before asked. “Are you Oh Sehun?”

Sehun laughed in relief. “Yes, yes I am Oh Sehun.”

He thought they would stop pointing him with the guns, but instead of that, they got ready to pull the trigger. Sehun remembered what Baekhyun and Jongdae had told him, one of the first days, how his people killed the prisoners, how they didn’t let them come back alive.

Sehun noticed the tears running down his cheeks. “Please, please, don’t shoot” he whispered.

Suddenly, the attention wasn’t on him, as all of them turned to the side, to where voices were heard, coming closer.

“Kill the target and let’s run” one of the soldiers said, but before they could obey another two figures came out from the trees. Sehun opened his mouth, not believing what he was seeing.

“Oh my God, you found him!” Jongin screamed with joy as he ran to hug Sehun. Sehun was in shock, with Jongin still hugging him, muttering words of comfort. He was wearing a breathing mask, just as everyone else except him, but quickly pulled one out of his pack and helped Sehun to put it on before hugging him again.

Chanyeol was grinning, talking through his comm. “Yes, yes, Ms. Oh, we followed the unit sent to save him, he is safe and sound.”

The others looked at each other again, and for a second, for a quick moment, Sehun was sure they would shoot them all. They would just shoot Jongin, and Chanyeol, and then they would kill him and that’d be it. Instead of that, the leader – the one who had talked to Sehun, the one who was going to kill him – lowered his gun, and the rest followed suit.

“Thank you so much” was saying Jongin, not crying but close to it, and still hugging Sehun. “Thank you for finding him, we thought he would be dead.”

“Just doing our job” the leader said, his voice a little strained, but his friends didn’t realize. Chanyeol had just joined the hug, and Sehun’s heartbeat was returning to normal, even if he was still on high alert.

These men were sent to kill him, and they would have, if not for Jongin and Chanyeol showing up unexpectedly. It was scary, and Sehun was still afraid that they would just shoot them all.

“How much time you were outside?” Jongin asked when they finally let Sehun breathe. He sounded very worried. “How do you feel? We must arrive to the quarters quickly so he can be detoxicated.”

He directed those last words to the others. The leader nodded cautiously. “We got it, don’t worry. You shouldn’t be here, anyway, this is not even your squad’s terrain, you will be in big trouble if someone finds out.”

It was a threat, Sehun could feel it in his bones, even if the tone was amicably. Chanyeol just grinned, saying. “It’s alright, we are willing to face punishment. Besides, we are already here, we will go with you, Sehun needs us now.”

Chanyeol didn’t know to what extent he was saying the truth, because if Jongin and him were to disappear, he was sure that the others would kill him immediately. Jongin and Chanyeol being there, comms activated and probably with a tracker, were the only thing keeping Sehun alive.

A tracker. They weren’t the only ones with trackers, Sehun himself was wearing that. This was a team meant to kill him, so they weren’t prepared to actually bring Sehun back, which meant that there was a possibility that no one thought he could be wearing a tracker. Even so, they couldn’t take the bracelet off, so Baekhyun would know where he was going.

But Baekhyun wouldn’t know that he was being forced back, against his will, he would only know that he was leaving, towards his quarters, back to them. Betraying him.

Sehun felt a wave of nausea, but before he could even react, one of the soldiers was forcing him up on his feet. “Let’s go” he said, gripping Sehun’s arm with too much strength. “We don’t have all day.”

They walked through the forest, every step guiding them further and further from Baekhyun’s base. Their base. The Outsiders’ base… It seemed wrong to call them Outsiders now that Sehun felt like one of them. Tears threatened to fall again, but he held them, not wanting to show any sign of weakness.

When they finally left the forest, several military trucks were waiting for them. They opened one of them, signaling Sehun to get in. Jongin and Chanyeol followed suit, there was space for them. “We will go with him” Jongin said when the leader tried to get them down to another truck. A couple of members of the squad occupied the driver and the passenger seat, which were partially closed to the back of the truck, but they could still keep watch of them.

Once the trucks were on the road, Sehun started crying. Jongin and Chanyeol were quickly by his side, not knowing how to react.

“It’s okay” Sehun sobbed. “I thought I was going to die, but it’s okay now.”

For a few minutes, they stayed in silence, as Sehun calmed himself now, Chanyeol’s hand resting on his arm, and Jongin rubbing circles on Sehun’s back.

Sehun wanted to tell them, about everything. About the lies of the Empire, about the truth, about the toxic air not being toxic… About Baekhyun, he wanted to tell them about Baekhyun. But he didn’t dare, the others would hear him, and if they thought Sehun was going to spill the secrets, if they thought Chanyeol and Jongin believed him… They would be dead, the three of them.

The trucks stopped, and the back door was opened, the man not wearing any mask, so they should be inside already.

“Come out” he grunted. Jongin and Chanyeol quickly obeyed, and Sehun eventually did as well, taking a couple of seconds for himself before jumping out.

There were fewer men than before, watching them and with their hands on their guns, but not saying anything. They didn’t move, probably waiting for someone, and Jongin took his chance to hug Sehun again, Chanyeol promptly joining.

It was his chance, so Sehun quickly whispered into the hug. “The Outsiders are not the bad guys, the air is not toxic. You have to believe me.”

Chanyeol immediately backed off the hug, laughing like Sehun was just telling a really bad joke, but Jongin looked at him, confusion in his eyes. “Sehun, what do you-“

Before he could finish the answer, more men barged through the door, this time with his guns out, and pointing directly at Sehun.

“Oh Sehun, you are under arrest for fraternizing with the enemy.” The man who had said that was wearing a suit, instead of their usual uniform.

“There has to be a mistake” Jongin begged, as one of the soldiers grabbed him, pulling him away from Sehun.

“There is no mistake. Kim Jongin, Park Chanyeol, we thank you for your efforts in rescuing your friend, but unfortunately, he is a traitor, and will be treated as such.”

Sehun wasn’t hearing anything, all he could hear and feel was his own heartbeat, so strong that he thought his heart would explode out of his chest. Two men took his arms, dragging him away.

“I’m sorry” he said, looking at his friends. Jongin was confused, tears streaming down his face, but Chanyeol looked betrayed, and hurt.

That was the only thing he got to say before they left the room. He didn’t know where they were taking him, none of them talked until they reached another room. It was like one of those vintage interrogation rooms he had seen in pictures and movies, and he was forced to sit. He was still wearing the bracelet with the tracker, he noticed.

For a while, just him and the two men with the guns were in the room, and when finally someone else entered, Sehun felt the color drain from his face. It was the same man he had seen already, several times; the man in charge of torturing Baekhyun.

“We see each other again, Sehun. My name is Leeteuk, in case you don’t remember me” he said with a smile, sitting in the chair across the table, in front of Sehun. Like Sehun was going to forget his face, when it haunted his nightmares every night.

“What do you want from me?” Sehun asked, his voice trembling.

“You don’t have to be afraid” Leeteuk tried to soothe him, but Sehun just laughed at that, on the verge of breaking down .

“How am I supposed to not be afraid when you sent people to kill me?” he replied.

“I’m sure that was just a misunderstanding” Leeteuk tried to explain, still with that fake smile on his face.

“No, it wasn’t. He gave the order to kill me and run before my friends appeared. I was just lucky they weren’t fast enough.” Sehun shoot back. Leeteuk’s smile faltered.

“You can’t blame them, Sehun” he said, changing his approach. “It’s the protocol with traitors” he added, emphasizing the last word. That’s what Sehun was, right? A traitor.

“I was taken hostage” Sehun spat “I was… kidnapped against my will. And yet instead of trying to rescue me, you sent people to kill me.”

“But you are alive now, right? That’s what should matter. You can have your revenge against those Outsiders now” Leeteuk said, smiling again. “You can tell us all you know.”

He could, but he didn’t want to, Sehun realized. He didn’t want to tell this man anything, and now he understood the danger of Baekhyun confiding in him. It had seemed unfair to him before, feeling like Baekhyun didn’t want to tell him anything, pressuring him until he did, but now he saw it, the risk they were in. 

It was alright, because Sehun wasn’t planning on saying a word.

“I know nothing” Sehun said after a few seconds of silence.

“Mmmmh, that’s unfortunate” Leeteuk replied. “You realize you are facing charges of treason, right? Those are… severe ones. If you gave us some useful information, we could drop the charges, of course. You would walk free, a hero even, helping us in our war against the Outsiders.”

“If I knew anything, I would tell you” Sehun lied. “But I was locked up all day, all night. I didn’t hear anything.”

“That’s a pity” Leeteuk said, sounding apologetic in some fake and twisted way. “Unfortunately, our protocols are really strict when it comes to this, so we will have to resort to other ways to help you remember.”

Sehun’s heart skipped a beat, watching Leeteuk crooked smile after those words. “I already told you, I don’t know anything” he pleaded , but Leeteuk was already standing up.

“Take him to the interrogation room, I have to make a few calls first” he told the guards, ignoring Sehun completely.

He left the room after that, and the guards grabbed Sehun’s arms again. He tried to fight them, but they were stronger and had guns. They dragged him to another room. This one was completely white and had no windows and a couple of drains in the floor.

There were a couple of tables with wheels and some kind of leather straps hanging from the ceiling . Sehun tried to breathe, knowing what was coming, as the guards cuffed his arms to a couple of the leather straps. They adjusted it, so he was hanging from the ceiling, barely touching the floor, just because he was tiptoeing. 

Sehun started to feel the anxiety creeping up to him, he wasn’t dumb . They were going to torture him, the same way they had tortured Baekhyun, trying to make him talk. He felt his resolution fail but then he remembered Baekhyun. He had endured it all, he had been strong and hadn’t told them anything.

And he had trusted Sehun, had told him things that if the Empire knew, would put the entire operation at risk. And not only that, Sehun knew now about the position of the bases, about the leaders, about a lot of things that Baekhyun had confided him. 

He had to endure it, he couldn’t let himself fail. Baekhyun had been strong, and had trusted him, now it was time for Sehun to be strong himself.

Leeteuk finally arrived again, a dreadful smile on his face, and Sehun closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, trying to mentally prepare to what was about to come.

He didn’t remember much of those days. He remembered the cuts, he remembered the drownings, the electric shocks. He remembered the needles. He drifted in and out of consciousness, but Leeteuk didn’t leave him any moment of rest. In the beginning they let him sleep, brought him down and let him rest again after. It changed when Leeteuk became impatient, not allowing Sehun to even close his eyes for days.

Most of anything, Sehun remembered the pain, the horribly awful pain he felt. Every time he felt himself, his resolution, falter, he thought about Baekhyun, about how he had endured the same and hadn’t said a word.

Sehun screamed, cried, and begged them to stop, but didn’t say anything about the plans, even if it meant more torture, more pain. More blood spilled. He didn’t know the difference between day and night anymore, not that he cared. He wasn’t going to make it out alive, that was something he saw clearer with every passing moment.

He didn’t raise his head when the door opened anymore, knowing what was coming. He didn’t raise his head when someone released the cuffs, they did that sometimes. Though this time was weird, because usually they just let him fall to the floor, but someone was holding him this time.

Instead of dropping him, or getting him onto a table – that happened, too – the person who was holding him said something to him before helping him stand. He was saying something but it was just a buzz, Sehun didn’t hear anything.

When he finally gathered the strength to look at the person who was holding him, he knew this was one of his hallucinations again. It was not the first time he had dreamed, hallucinated with someone coming to rescue him. Sometimes it was Baekhyun, sometimes Jongin and Chanyeol. Even Jongdae had appeared in his dreams once.

So seeing Jongin there just made him laugh, tiredly. His brain was playing tricks on him again. Dream-Jongin was talking to him, but Sehun didn’t understand him. He just nodded and smiled, because even if it was only a dream, it was always nice to see Jongin. His whole body hurt, and he couldn’t stand up by himself, but Jongin’s arm around him felt steady and warm and real.

“… have… out… here…” The sound came muffled, even if Jongin was beside him. Dream-Jongin always wanted to save him, but Sehun usually woke up before it happened.

Dream-Jongin seemed to realize that Sehun was too out of his mind to understand what he was saying or to even walk by himself, so he just gave him a kiss on the forehead, and helped him walk.

Outside the room there were a couple of people more, which was new. Usually, there was no one else in his dreams, just the person trying to rescue him and an endless corridor.

They said something, but Sehun wasn’t listening, busy trying to hold himself to Jongin, because he would wake up any moment now, and he wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted. One of the men took him out of Jongin’s embrace, and between the two of the strangers managed to put Sehun in the back of one of them, so that he was carrying him.

Then, they started to walk, the other stranger in the front, the one carrying Sehun in the middle, and Jongin behind them. Sehun felt heavy, heavier than he usually felt in dreams, and his eyes started to close again. It was nice, this man’s back, he had to congratulate himself for creating a man which such a nice back. 

He tried to open his eyes, but the eyelids felt too heavy, so he gave up, and just left them closed. After that, everything went into a blur. He opened his eyes again when he was being put in the back of a truck, a hand softly petting his hair. Was he being transferred to another facility? Had they finally gotten tired of him? At least if they killed him he wouldn’t feel the pain anymore, which was a relief. Sehun hoped they would just kill him already, end his suffering.

His eyes closed again, and when he opened them, he was on a bed. Everything was still blurry but the room seemed familiar. There was someone by his side, but Sehun didn’t get who before losing the strength to stay awake.

Finally, he woke up, really woke up. He felt heavy, and everything hurt, but he was awake. Slowly, he opened his eyes, this time for real, and recognized immediately where he was. This was the room where he had woken up that first time, after Jongdae and Baekhyun had kidnaped him. It was the same room.

“Sehun” a shaky voice came to him from his right, so he cautiously turned his head. Baekhyun was there, on a chair, and taking one of Sehun’s hands between his own. There were no handcuffs, unlike that first time.

“Baekhyun?” Sehun managed to crook out, his voice hoarse. Baekhyun quickly released Sehun’s hand to take a glass of water of the nightstand and offered to Sehun. Sehun tried to incorporate, but he was still clearly too weak for that.

Baekhyun helped him, with a hand on his back, and the other holding the water glass, even if Sehun’s hands were holding the glass as well. He helped Sehun drink and then returned the glass to the nightstand.

“How are you feeling?” Baekhyun said, carding his fingers through Sehun’s hair.

“Like I’m dreaming” Sehun confessed, which made Baekhyun laugh at the same time that a few tears formed in his eyes. “Don’t cry, Baek, I’m here now, right?”

“I thought I had lost you” Baekhyun sobbed. “You didn’t come back, and I went out to look for you, and I didn’t find you, and… The tracker said you were going back to the Empire, too fast to be walking by yourself.”

“I’m sorry” Sehun said, sadly. “I shouldn’t have left, none of this would have happened.”

“This is not your fault” Baekhyun firmly said. “Please don’t think that. This is their fault, not yours.”

Sehun nodded, a little hesitant, and Baekhyun smiled, holding his hand again. They stayed there for a few moments, in silence, before Sehun remembered his last dream, but now he doubted it was a dream.

“How did you… rescue me?” he asked, remembering Jongin. Was that his imagination being too wild?

Baekhyun smiled softly at him. “Your friend loves you very much, you know?” he said.

“Jongin?” Sehun felt a spark of hope in his chest, as Baekhyun nodded. “But… how? Why?”

“After you left… Well, there wasn’t a lot I could do. I wanted to go after you myself, you know, it took a lot of Jongdae and Junmyeon to convince me not to. Instead of following you, I just… We had to act fast. If there was even a single chance that you were still alive, I would take it. The tracker wasn’t deactivated, which didn’t mean you were still alive but I had hope. Hope and fear, of what they could be doing to you, if you were alive, but hope nonetheless.”

He got quiet after that, and Sehun’s mind went back to the torture, to all that pain. He looked at his free hand, the one that Baekhyun wasn’t holding. His fingertips were wrapped with bandages and if he wiggled his fingers, they hurt.

“I’m sorry” Baekhyun muttered, following Sehun eyes. “For letting this happen to you.”

“It’s not your fault” Sehun said, the same answer that Baekhyun had given to him. “It’s theirs.”

Baekhyun nodded, before following with his story. “The plan was already arranged to be set in motion, when a soldier of the Empire came to our door, completely alone, kneeling and without a mask. We thought it was a trap, some kind of sick and twisted way of getting a spy on our side. But… the moment he said his name, I knew who he was. You talked about your friends a lot, Jongin and Chanyeol, so there was no way it wasn’t your Jongin.”

“He… he came to you?” Sehun asked, confused, his heart warm just thinking about Jongin doing that for him.

Baekhyun nodded. “He said he had taken a few days off as an excuse, but came to see us.I don’t know how he managed to find our base, really. He told us about your situation, confirming my hopes and fears. You were alive but… Well. We had to get you out.” He looked away for a few seconds, before continuing. “I trusted him. I shouldn’t have, Junmyeon and Joohyun almost kill me for that, but he seemed as desperate as me to save you. So, I sent him back, with specific instructions. Didn’t tell him about the plan, but I told him the date when we would need him.”

“So… The day he came to me, to rescue me” Sehun said, licking his lips. “Did you do it? Break the cupule?”

Baekhyun grinned at that. “We did. Broadcasted Junmyeon on all the screens of the Empire, telling them that they were living a lie fed by the Empire and that they would soon be free. And then, all the protecting spheres across the Empire broke, all the ‘protection’ disappeared.”

“And Jongin seized the opportunity” Sehun marveled. “And came for me.”

Baekhyun nodded. “We had a couple of men in the inside, they met with Jongin and went to rescue you. No one even paid attention to them, with all the havoc we had created.”

Sehun bit his lip, looking down at Baekhyun’s hands holding his own. “I didn’t say anything” he softly muttered, suddenly terrified of Baekhyun thinking he had betrayed him.

“I know” Baekhyun muttered, coming closer to give him a soft peck on the lips. “I know. Even if you had, I wouldn’t be angry at you, Sehun. You were tortured, it wouldn’t have been your fault to crack under them.”

“But I didn’t,” Sehun said, smiling a little.

“You didn’t” Baekhyun agreed, looking sad. “Don’t let Jongdae know this, but sometimes I thought that I preferred you to spill all our secrets than enduring all of that suffering. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“It wasn’t only for you, singular” Sehun said, smiling. “It was for you, plural. For us. I’m one of you now.”

Baekhyun stared at him for a moment before bursting into a laugh. “Of course you are, Sehun” he agreed, kissing him again, softly and short, before pulling back. “I’m going to bring someone, you stay here.”

“I promise I won’t go anywhere” Sehun joked, as he was sure that if he tried to move he would just fall to the floor.

Baekhyun gave him an exasperated look before disappearing through the door, leaving Sehun alone with his thoughts. He tried hard to not think about the torture, but it was a difficult thing to do. He couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Leeteuk’s face and grin in his mind, and that scared him. All his body hurt, he was practically bandaged from head to toe, but his fingertips hurt the most. He hoped his nails would grow again, but he knew that even if they did it was going to be a long and painful process.

The door opened and, instead of Baekhyun, Jongin came in. Sehun smiled brightly at seeing his friend. He looked tired but healthy.

“Sehun” he cried, practically running until he was kneeling at the bed’s side. “How are you?”

Sehun laughed, hitting his head softly. “I’m good. I heard that it’s thank to you.”

“I couldn’t” Jongin sobbed “I couldn’t believe what they were going to do. I couldn’t erase your words off my mind, and…”

“Hey, Jongin, it’s alright” Sehun said. “I’m here now, safe and sound.”

Jongin nodded, still sobbing. “I took the risk and came here before they could. I didn’t know how to convince them to help you, but… Baekhyun just believed me. I am thankful.”

“And so I am” Sehun said. “Thankful that you decided to risk everything to help me.”

“This is crazy” Jongin half laughed half cried. “I can’t believe… Those were lies. Can’t believe we were fighting the bad guys’ side.”

He sounded guilty, breaking Sehun’s heart. “We didn’t know, Jongin” he softly explained. “There was no way we would know. They fed us with the lies from birth. At least, it’s over.”

“Yeah… I wonder what’s happening there.”

“I hope nothing too bad” Sehun sighed. “I’m worried, about my family.”

“Yeah, me too… And well, about Chanyeol…”

“He is there?” Sehun asked, dreading the answer.

Jongin nodded, looking down at his hands. “I… I told him I was going to do whatever I needed to rescue you. But he was… angry. He thought you were a traitor, brainwashed by the Outsiders, and deserved to be punished. I don’t think he knew what they were going to do to you.”

Sehun stayed quiet for a moment, before saying. “I don’t blame him. I was a traitor, after all.”

“But you were our friend” Jongin snapped. “He put… the Empire before our friendship.”

“Don’t be angry at him” Sehun pleaded. “I just hope he is safe.”

Jongin bit his lip before sighing. “Me too, Sehun, me too.”

They talked for a while after that, before Jongin claimed that Sehun needed to rest, and left his room. Sehun tried to sleep, but when he woke up the first time screaming because of the nightmares, he knew he wouldn’t be able to.

Baekhyun heard him, and immediately brought him some sleeping pills and a glass of water to swallow them. This way, Sehun slept without dreaming.

For several days, he only left the bed to go to the bathroom, to relieve himself and wash, always helped by someone. Sometimes Baekhyun, sometimes Jongin, as he was still too weak to stand by himself.

When he felt strong enough, he went out to eat, accompanied by both of them. Cheers received them in the dining hall when Sehun showed up, making him blush. “They all know you were tortured and still didn’t spill a thing” Baekhyun whispered in his ear. “You are a hero”.

They sat down to eat, accompanied by Jongdae, Seulgi, Sooyoung and a girl he didn’t know but who looked extremely close to Jongin. “I’m Soojung” she introduced herself. She had a cool appearance but her smile was sincere and Jongin seemed happy around her, which was enough.

A few more days passed, and Sehun was lying on his bed, with Baekhyun by his side, reading some book out loud, when the door opened.

“A soldier of the Empire is here” Jongdae said, looking serious. “He says he knows Sehun and Jongin.”

Baekhyun quickly jumped out the bed, and helped Sehun to incorporate. They walked as quickly as Sehun could, to some room Sehun had never been. Inside there were Junmyeon, and Joohyun with Jongin and the soldier of the empire, which turned out to be Chanyeol.

He looked… like a mess. He had bags under his eyes, his military clothes were dirty, and had a tired look on his face.

“Do you know him?” Junmyeon asked Jongin and Sehun after the door was closed.

They both nodded, and Chanyeol gave a sigh of relief. “I’m not here to do anything” he said. He sounded as tired as he looked. “The people have risen up against the government. Even… the majority of the soldiers, we’ve rebelled as well.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Joohyun asked, her arms crossed and her expression cold.

“I couldn’t live with myself, not knowing if Sehun was okay” he whispered, and finally looked up to meet his friends’ eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, to both of you. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but just knowing you are alive is enough.”

Looking at each other first, and then at Junmyeon and Joohyun to ask for silent permission, Jongin and Sehun approached Chanyeol. Jongin kneeled at his side, starting to sob, and Sehun hugged him from behind the chair he was sitting on.

“It’s alright” Sehun muttered. “We are okay, alive.”

Chanyeol had begun to cry as well, trying to reciprocate both hugs with his big arms. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve trusted you.”

“You are here now, that’s enough”.

The three of them stayed like that for a minute and when they looked up, only Baekhyun was left in the room.

“You are welcome to stay, Chanyeol” he said. “If you want to.”

Chanyeol just shook his head. “I have to come back. I’m helping rebuild everything, government included. I came here only to make sure they were alive. Their families were worried about them, and so was I.”

Sehun and Jongin looked at each other again. Their families…

“Will you… come back?” Chanyeol asked them. “It’s your home, and we are now free.”

It was a hard choice to make, so they told Chanyeol to stay the night, to let them think about it. After that, Baekhyun returned to Sehun’s room with him. They resumed their position before Chanyeol arrived, but this time without the book.

Baekhyun looked at him, his hand in Sehun’s neck, and pulled him closer to kiss him. Sehun was still weak but his wounds were no longer in danger of opening up so he didn’t complain when Baekhyun got on top of him.

“Let me” he muttered in Sehun’s ears. Sehun nodded, trusting Baekhyun completely. They hadn’t done anything more than kissing since he had come back, and Baekhyun went slow, careful, and gentle. He worshipped Sehun’s body that night and told him again and again that he loved him, and would still love him, even if Sehun decided to go back. He would wait for him.

When the time arrived next day, Jongin stood next to Chanyeol, and next to him, Soojung. “I’m going to help rebuild” he explained. “Soojung… She wants to come with me.”

The woman nodded, having already said her goodbyes to her friends. Jongin had made his decision, Soojung had made her decision… There was only Sehun left.

He approached Chanyeol and Jongin and he… he hesitated. He hesitated at first, but he knew what he had to do. Sehun hugged them, saying “Tell my family I’m alright. I’ll go visit when things are back to normal, I promise.”

His friends hugged back. “We’ll come back here, too” Jongin assured him. “It will be dangerous for a while, but the moment it’s safe, we will be back.”

“I’m going to miss you” Sehun said, squeezing them into the hug.

“We’ll miss you too” Chanyeol said, while they all pulled apart from the hug.

Sehun returned to Baekhyun’s side, who looked surprised. “Are you staying?” he asked.

Sehun giggled, and took his hand. “I am” he said, smiling.

Chanyeol, Jongin, and Soojung waved, saying their last goodbyes as the entered the forest on their way back home.

Baekhyun pulled Sehun down to a kiss. “I’m glad” he mumbled before kissing him again.

Sehun returned the kiss, holding his waist with his hands. “You won’t see me hesitate again” he promised, because he had finally found his home, and that home was Baekhyun. 

**Author's Note:**

> maybe chankai kiss in the end, who knows, jongin has two hands


End file.
